US police have seized luxury motorcycles worth $40 million, believed to belong to Ryan James Wedding, a Canadian citizen and former Olympian who is now listed among the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives.
Mexican authorities, in cooperation with the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Los Angeles Police Department, made the seizure in December with multiple search warrants, the FBI Los Angeles wrote in X.
The photos included in the post show dozens of MotoGP motorcycles, which are used in motorcycle racing, the Telegraph reports.
According to a Justice Department indictment unsealed last month, the charges Wedding faces include directing the killing of a cooperating witness in Colombia, overseeing a criminal enterprise and enriching himself with the enterprise's laundered drug proceeds.
Wedding is accused of running a violent drug ring responsible for trafficking 60 tons of cocaine each year into the United States and Canada, primarily in partnership with the Sinaloa cartel.
The seizure of $40 million worth of motorcycles highlights the huge profits and international networks linked to modern drug trafficking empires.
FBI officials said the asset seizure disrupts the ability of criminal enterprises to launder money and finance further violence, while serving as a high-profile signal of continued cooperation between U.S., Canadian and Mexican law enforcement.
The seized motorcycles totaled 62, according to the Toronto Star, citing Mexican authorities, and included motorcycles from the Italian brand Ducati dating back to the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.
Other items seized included artwork, ammunition, drugs, various documents and what authorities described as two Olympic medals, the Star reported.
The raid comes just weeks after authorities seized a rare supercar, a Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR Roadster worth an estimated $13 million, as part of an ongoing operation. Only six models of the car were ever built.
Wedding is a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, according to Olympic records.
The FBI alleges that Wedding—who reportedly goes by nicknames such as "El Jefe," "Public Enemy," and "The Giant"—is a drug trafficker who built an empire that "regularly transported hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States."
Wedding is wanted on charges that include conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine, conspiracy to export cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise, and witness tampering.
The FBI warns that Wedding may be armed and dangerous and is believed to reside in Mexico. /Telegraph/
