Nearly 15 years ago in San Diego, an Olympic snowboarder was charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute 24 kilograms of cocaine, accused of leading a massive international drug smuggling operation to smuggle cocaine into Canada.

Ryan James Wedding, 43, an Olympic snowboarder, was indicted this week along with 15 others for allegedly running a massive, murderous international drug trafficking operation that smuggled cocaine from Colombia to Canada through Mexico, federal authorities announced Thursday.

Wedding, a Canadian citizen who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, allegedly ran a criminal enterprise that smuggled 16 tons of cocaine into Canada each year, becoming the country's largest cocaine supplier. Prosecutors on Thursday called him an “Olympic athlete turned drug lord.”

Wedding, also known as “El Jefe,” and his co-conspirator Andrew Clark were also charged with murder over stolen drugs or drug debts.

Wedding's San Diego Connection

The San Diego case dates back to 2008 and culminated in the arrest of Wedding and two co-conspirators on June 13 of that year.

According to prosecutors, Wedding, Michael Krapchan and Hassan Shirani were all involved in the case, which the FBI linked to the Akhundov DTO, a drug trafficking organization based in Vancouver, Canada, which law enforcement said was led by Elmar Akhundov.

Court documents sworn by FBI Special Agent Brett Kalina state that Akhundov and Krapchan engaged in negotiations with a confidential source (CS) through telephone calls and in-person conversations in San Diego, Seattle and elsewhere. The pair agreed to a drug deal in San Diego on June 9, 2008 for 24 kilos of cocaine, with the CS eventually meeting with Wedding, Krapchan and Shirani, who told the CS that the majority of the purchase money was not in San Diego, but rather more likely at LAX.

During negotiations in San Diego, according to court documents, Wedding told the CS that the conspirators' intention was to grab “a” kilo and “take a look at it…and grab the rest later.”

“Ultimately, the parties agreed to conduct the exchange on June 13, 2008” in San Diego after the co-conspirators were able to inspect the drugs.

Kalisa said in court documents that the three co-conspirators were seen arriving at the San Diego Hampton Inn Hotel that day, after which Krapchan headed to a second location where he paid $17,000 for a kilo of cocaine. Agents said they arrested him after they saw him calling Wedding and Shirani to tell them he had made the purchase. The couple was then taken into custody as they left the Hampton Inn.

After her arrest, police officers said they searched her car and found a hotel key to a Comfort Inn in Woodland Hills, where investigators seized about $100,000 hidden in a piece of furniture.

According to another court document, Wedding was convicted on May 28, 2010 and sentenced to four years in federal prison.

NBC 7 reached out to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to find out how long Wedding was in prison and whether he was deported to Canada after his release, but has not yet heard back.

The Canadian kingpin allegations

Prosecutors said Thursday that the international drug trafficking operation linked to Wedding “routinely” sent shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, which were then taken to warehouses in Los Angeles before being smuggled into Ontario, Canada, federal investigators alleged.

“From March to August of this year alone, we determined that they transported 1,800 kilograms of cocaine,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada. “They would transport around 60 tons of cocaine every year.

Wedding, now living in Mexico, is on the run, according to prosecutors, while several of the defendants were in custody awaiting their court appearance in Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

“We will not allow Los Angeles to be used as a transit hub,” said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, who worked with the FBI, DEA and other international law enforcement agencies on the recent raid.

Hamilton also said there had been acts of violence that could be “directly” attributed to the alleged criminal enterprise.

“Violence is one of the unfortunate byproducts of these drug trafficking organizations, and the Los Angeles Police Department remains committed to preventing this violence from occurring not only in the Los Angeles region, but in connection with this organization throughout North America.” said Hamilton.

During the investigation, authorities seized more than a ton of cocaine, $255,400 and more than $3.2 million in cryptocurrencies, officials said.

“The Wedding Drug Trafficking Organization and its tireless, callous and greed-driven crimes have been in operation for far too long, spanning multiple countries, from Colombia to Mexico to the United States to Canada,” said Matthew Allen, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Los Angeles. “They unleashed an avalanche of violent crime, including brutal murders.

Wedding is currently charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances; conspiracy to export cocaine; Running an ongoing criminal enterprise; murder in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise and drug crimes; and one count of attempted murder in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise and drug crime.

With Wedding, 43, still at large, the FBI offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest. If convicted, Wedding faces life in federal prison for murder and attempted murder.