An Olympic snowboarder and 15 others have been accused of running a massive international drug smuggling operation that involved smuggling cocaine from Colombia to Canada through Mexico using Los Angeles as a transportation hub, federal authorities announced Thursday.

Ryan 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, making him the country's largest cocaine supplier.

“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.

The cocaine shipments were “routinely” shipped from Colombia to Mexico, then transported to warehouses in Los Angeles and then smuggled into Ontario, Canada, federal investigators alleged.

Wedding, now living in Mexico, was on the run while several of the defendants were in custody awaiting court appearances 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 associated with this organization throughout North America.” said Hamilton.

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

“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 Agency (DEA) Los Angeles. “They unleashed an avalanche of violent crime, including brutal murders.

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

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 would face a minimum sentence of life in federal prison for murder and attempted murder