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

B.C. unfairly clawed back COVID-19 benefit to thousands during pandemic, says report

Thousands of people in British Columbia saw their $1,000 tax-free COVID-19 benefit unfairly clawed back by the provincial government, says an ombudsperson report. So far, 12,000 people have been told to repay their B.C. Emergency Benefit that the government said was for workers who had been affected by the pandemic, Ombudsperson Jay Chalke said Tuesday.

B.C. unfairly clawed back COVID-19 benefit to thousands during pandemic, says report

Federal government posts $8.2 billion deficit between April and September this year

The federal government recorded a budgetary deficit of $8.2 billion between April and September, $3.9 billion of which was in September. The finance department says in its monthly fiscal monitor that the deficit between April and September compared to a surplus of $1.7 billion during the same period last year.

Federal government posts $8.2 billion deficit between April and September this year

Locked out Rogers Communications workers in B.C. ratify five-year contract

Nearly 300 Rogers Communications workers have voted strongly in favour of a new contract, ending a company lockout that began two weeks ago. The United Steelworkers union Local 1944, Unit 60, says in a statement that its members voted 96 per cent in favour of ratifying the tentative agreement reached last Friday.

Locked out Rogers Communications workers in B.C. ratify five-year contract

'Bank of mom and dad' study: B.C. high earners get housing boost if parents also own

A Statistics Canada study into what it calls the "bank of mom and dad" shows home ownership among young high earners in British Columbia increases more than anywhere else in Canada if their parents are homeowners, too. The study also finds that nationally, people born in the 1990s are twice as likely to own a home if their parents are homeowners, compared to those whose parents are not.

'Bank of mom and dad' study: B.C. high earners get housing boost if parents also own

Port Moody Police arrest knife brandishing teen

Police in Port Moody are investigating after arresting a 15-year-old who allegedly brandished a knife while chasing another teen through a crowd of students at a busy bus stop. Police say it happened yesterday afternoon (in the 13-hundred block of David Avenue) when a fight between two young people escalated into the armed chase.

Port Moody Police arrest knife brandishing teen

Eby says governments must step up on housing, can't rely on private sector

British Columbia Premier David Eby says it's "hard to understand" why other politicians still believe in relying on the private sector to deliver affordable housing and instead it's time for governments to step up. Eby says there are proposals at the federal level to sell public land and buildings to help solve the crisis, but B.C. is doing the opposite by taking inventory of provincially and municipally owned land in order to build more homes.