Longtime fugitive Ryan Wedding sought a court order to prevent his arrest in the Mexican state of Sinaloa for nearly a year before he was finally taken into U.S. custody last week, according to legal records obtained by CBC News.

documents, first reported by the Sinaloan news organization Riodocesuggest that Wedding — a Canadian accused of running a cocaine-trafficking ring linked to the Sinaloa cartel — believed Mexican authorities were closing in on him in early 2025.

In a Mexican federal court filing in mid-February, Wednesdayding claimed under oath that state law enforcement had obtained a warrant for his arrest and extradition. He said he was living in Los Mochis, a coastal city in the western state of Sinaloa, at the time.

The request came just days after the FBI’s search for Wedding intensified following the murder of a witness who was supposed to testify against him.

Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, a longtime drug trafficker who was born in Montreal, wasJan. 31 in Medellin, Colombia, after Wedding reportedly put a US$5 million bounty on his head.

Wedding, 44, was taken into US custody in Mexico last week and immediately transferred to California, where he faces 17 federal charges, including murder, drug trafficking, witness tampering and money laundering. He begged he is not guilty.

CBC News reviewed a Nov. 4, 2025, decision by a federal judge in Sinaloa, who said he had no jurisdiction over Wedding’s request for an injunction — known as an amparo — because the underlying arrest warrant was issued in Mexico City.

The partially redacted ruling seen by CBC does not name Wedding and omits his home address in Los Mochis. However, the Mexican court lists the plaintiff in the case by his full name, Ryan James Wedding.

His defense attorney from California, Anthony Colombo, told CBC News in an email that he was aware of the court case in 2025. “The use of amparo is common in Mexico to cover up an arrest warrant that has been issued,” Colombo said.

Mexican juThe dge’s decision says that Sinaloa’s director of public security first admitted to seeking an arrest warrant, but later denied doing so.

“He initially accepted (the request) because if he found or encountered the prosecutor in the course of his duties, he would take him into custody, but he clarified that he does not hold a request for detention for the purpose of extradition,” District Judge Jesús Adalberto Bañuelos Flores wrote.

Cartel expert Nathan P. Jones said in an interview that a “classic drug strategy” is to use the Mexican legal system to slow down court proceedings.

Jones, an associate professor of security studies at Sam Houston State University in Texas, said it was unlikely Wedding lived at the address he listed.

WATCH | Ryan Wedding has pleaded not guilty to murder and drug trafficking charges in California:

Accused drug lord Ryan Wedding has pleaded not guilty

Olympic snowboarder-turned-accused drug kingpin Ryan Wedding pleaded not guilty to multiple charges against him during his first court appearance in Santa Ana, Calif., as uncertainty surrounds how Wedding ended up in police custody.

‘Living’ in Mexico under the protection of the cartel

The FBI added Wedding to its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list last March. Agency director Kash Patel described Wedding this week as “the biggest drug trafficker of the modern era” and compared him to notorious drug lords Pablo Escobar and Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzman Loera.

The FBI said the former Olympic snowboarder was protected by the Sinaloa cartel, co-founded by El Chapo.

While reports from Sinaloa last month, the CBC’s Jorge Barrera was told by the Mexican National Guard in the country that Wedding was not on their radar.

Mexican security expert later told Barrera that Wedding was particularly tied to Los Chapitos, a faction of the cartel still controlled by those loyal to El Chapo’s sons.

RCMP first sought Wedding’s arrest in Montreal amid an investigation into a large cocaine importation into Canada in 2015. U.S. authorities now saye Thunder Bay, Ont., native had he had been hiding in Mexico since about that time.

Colombo denied that his client had spent a decade in hiding.

“I would characterize it as ‘living’ (in Mexico),” Colombo told reporters this week after his client’s arraignment. “The government can characterize it in its own way.”

The FBI and the Sinaloa state attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wedding’s 2025 injunction request.

Mexican Attorney General Ernestina Godoy Ramos said in a statement this week that Wedding was a “top-level logistics operator” linked to the Sinaloa cartel and served “as a key bridge for mass drug distribution in North America.”

The Los Angeles Police Department previously said Wedding’s network used warehouses in the area to move 60 tons of cocaine and fentanyl each year to other destinations in the US and Canada.

RCMP said Wedding’s arrest last week marked a “significant day for public safety in Canada.”