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

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.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Tentative deal ends job action by teaching support staff at Simon Fraser University

Nearly 1,600 members launched job action on Sept. 26 after being without a collective agreement for 19 months, forcing the cancellation of tutorials, labs, lectures, office hours and the marking of assignments. Key issues included wages, class size and pensions for instructors.

Tentative deal ends job action by teaching support staff at Simon Fraser University

Overdose homicide in Nanaimo

Mounties in Nanaimo say they're investigating the fatal drug overdose of a woman back in March that they now believe was a homicide. The Nanaimo R-C-M-P says its serious crime unit is looking into the death of 52-year-old Wendy Head, who was found dead at a home in the city on March 7th.

Overdose homicide in Nanaimo

Escalating theft and violence aside, London Drugs not considering closures: president

London Drugs president Clint Mahlman says the company has no plans to close stores due to escalating violence and theft, though the issue has reached a "crisis point" for Canadian retailers. Mahlman says the company was disappointed to learn that a Vancouver city councillor said on social media that London Drugs was considering closing one of its main stores in the city, at the intersection of Granville and Georgia streets, due to crime.

Escalating theft and violence aside, London Drugs not considering closures: president

Funding for BC hospitals

Hospitals in Merrit, Oliver and Salmon Arm will get 7.5-million-dollars in permanent funding from the province to help stabilize physician emergency-room coverage. Health Minister Adrian Dix says challenges like worker recruitment and retention and the ongoing toxic-drug crisis are more prominent in rural and remote communities.

Funding for BC hospitals

IHIT officer testifies to executing DNA warrant of man accused in B.C. murder trial

Sgt-Maj. Heather Lew told a B.C. Supreme Court murder trial that she collected a few drops of blood from Ibrahim Ali's finger on Sept. 9, 2018, two days after his arrest and almost 14 months after the girl's body was found. Ali has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of the teen.

IHIT officer testifies to executing DNA warrant of man accused in B.C. murder trial

Hamas's attack on Israel: Two victims with Canadian ties laid to rest

Two victims with ties to Canada who were killed in Hamas's attacks on Israel were remembered fondly by relatives on Wednesday, who called for the world to recognize the brutality of what happened. Tiferet Lapidot, 22, was formally identified by authorities on Monday, more than a week after she died at a music festival near the Gaza Strip border, where Hamas's attack began on Oct. 7. Her family had thought she was among those being held hostage.