Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. Director of Civil Forfeiture claims 10 properties owned by alleged drug dealer

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Nov, 2023 06:08 PM
  • B.C. Director of Civil Forfeiture claims 10 properties owned by alleged drug dealer

The B.C. government wants 10 properties in Prince George forfeited for their alleged use in a years-long drug trafficking operation. 

The province's Director of Civil Forfeiture claims in a lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court that properties owned by Daniel Prediger should be handed over to the government because of their use in "unlawful activity." 

The civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in Victoria alleges Prediger is a member of a drug trafficking organization who bought properties with illicit proceeds from activities in Prince George, about 700 kilometres north of Vancouver.

The director alleges Prediger owned some of the properties through a company registered in B.C. called JLD Enterprises Ltd. 

Prediger is the "sole director and operating mind" of the company, which was registered to his last known address on Riverview Road in Prince George, the lawsuit says. 

In May 2023, the lawsuit says the company transferred ownership of three of the properties to Prediger for $1 each and "other good and valuable consideration."

Those properties, according to BC Assessment, are townhouses built in the 1960s. 

The lawsuit says garbage collected in 2017 from the Riverview Road home contained records of drug sales and debts, as well as plastic bags contaminated with cocaine and a drug cutting agent. 

The civil forfeiture claim also says one of Prediger's associates sold heroin to an undercover police officer in 2018 on his behalf.

It says other properties allegedly used by Prediger and his associates contained documents including cheques from JLD Enterprises, a prohibited "morning star" weapon, as well as drugs including methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and psilocybin.

The director claims the properties were used for drug dealing and tax evasion, and Prediger's legitimate income was "insufficient" to enable him to own them. 

None of the allegations have been tested or proven in court and Prediger has not filed a response to the lawsuit. 

The 10 properties have a combined assessed value of more than $2.2 million. An online search of B.C. court records shows Prediger faced several traffic violations in Prince George between 2009 and 2021, but he hasn't been charged with any drug offences described in the civil forfeiture lawsuit. 

In a ruling released by the B.C. Court of Appeal in March 2023 in an unrelated drug trafficking case, Sgt. Chad Chamberlain with the Prince George RCMP called Prediger "'a significant figure in the local drug trade' who 'operates at a higher-level.'"  Neither Chamberlain nor a lawyer who previously represented Prediger responded to requests for comment. 

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Police involved shooting in West Kelowna

Police involved shooting in West Kelowna
The Independent Investigations Office is investigating a police-involved shooting in West Kelowna this afternoon where one man was injured.  The R-C-M-P says police were responding to reports of gunshots and a man with a weapon in a vehicle.

Police involved shooting in West Kelowna

Pedestrian struck and killed in Vancouver

Pedestrian struck and killed in Vancouver
Police are investigating after a pedestrian was struck and killed by a car in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside today. Police say two cars collided at an intersection just before 11 this morning, and one of the cars jumped the curb and he the person on the sidewalk.  

Pedestrian struck and killed in Vancouver

Canada taking 'necessary time' to probe hospital blast in Gaza, says Trudeau

Canada taking 'necessary time' to probe hospital blast in Gaza, says Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canada is working with allies to determine "exactly what happened" in the blast at a hospital in Gaza City earlier this week that has become a flashpoint in the Israel-Hamas war.  Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa that Canada is taking the "necessary time" to probe a blast that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says left hundreds dead. 

Canada taking 'necessary time' to probe hospital blast in Gaza, says Trudeau

Alberta court rejects challenge from law student to Oath of Allegiance to monarchy

Alberta court rejects challenge from law student to Oath of Allegiance to monarchy
Prabjot Singh Wirring had argued the portion of the oath mandated by the Legal Profession Act that includes pledging allegiance to the sovereign violates his Charter rights to religious freedom and equality. Wirring, who is an Amritkhari Sikh, said he is only allowed to pledge allegiance to a divine being in the Sikh tradition and not Queen Elizabeth, who was the reigning monarch at the time his suit was filed.   

Alberta court rejects challenge from law student to Oath of Allegiance to monarchy

ShakeOutBC earthquake drill

ShakeOutBC earthquake drill
Thousands of people across B-C dropped, covered and held on this morning -- as they took part in the annual ShakeOutBC earthquake drill. The event -- at 10:19 a-m -- simulates an earthquake response and is a key part of provincial efforts to raise awareness about what to do in the moments, hours and days after an earthquake strikes.

ShakeOutBC earthquake drill

Large number of Canadian diplomats left India overnight: Report

Large number of Canadian diplomats left India overnight: Report
A large number of Canadian diplomats have left India overnight, a media report said on Thursday. The departures followed two weeks of negotiations between India and Canada after India issued a demand for "parity" in the number of diplomats present in the two countries, CBC News reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.

Large number of Canadian diplomats left India overnight: Report