The Wall Street Journal reports today that Ryan Wedding, accused of being part of the Sinaloa Cartel, was handcuffed in Mexico by an elite unit of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
According to the newspaper, Mexican security forces were closing in on the 44-year-old Canadian. “Long protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, Wedding suddenly found himself with no options. By the time security forces apprehended him in Mexico last week, officials said, members of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team were also involved. Weeks earlier, the FBI’s elite combat-trained unit participated in the capture of Venezuelan autocrat Nicolás Maduro at his fortified compound in Caracas,” the newspaper reports.
Authorities contacted Wedding “and, after intense negotiations, reminded him that his accomplices had been captured and that millions of dollars of his assets had been seized, according to officials. Finally, according to his lawyer, Anthony Colombo, FBI agents handcuffed Wedding, who was taken to California and pleaded not guilty in federal court to 17 felony charges, including murder.”
The Wall Street Journal says that “the FBI’s involvement in the January 22 operation was intended to be kept secret, according to a U.S. official. Mexican law prohibits the physical presence of foreign agents in police operations on its territory and their participation in arrests or raids. Mexico’s ruling nationalist party is particularly sensitive to foreign interference.”
“But on Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel dropped a bombshell about X. ‘Our FBI emergency response teams executed with precision, discipline, and total professionalism alongside our Mexican partners to bring Ryan James Wedding back to face justice,’ he said, using the initials of his elite squad,” the newspaper quotes.
The article notes that Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum attempted to defuse a potentially explosive situation at her Tuesday morning press conference. “She questioned Patel’s account of the events, pointing out that there was no U.S. involvement in the operation and that U.S. agents in Mexico have clear legal limitations.”
