Close X
Monday, November 11, 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

Canada Post reviewing use of address data following criticism from privacy watchdog

Canada Post reviewing use of address data following criticism from privacy watchdog
Canada Post said Friday it is reviewing how it uses data for tailored marketing campaigns after the federal privacy watchdog found the post office was breaking the law by gleaning information from the outsides of envelopes and packages. The information is then used to help build marketing lists that Canada Post rents to businesses.  

Canada Post reviewing use of address data following criticism from privacy watchdog

Here's what Canada is pledging in multi-year support for Ukraine, updated trade deal

Here's what Canada is pledging in multi-year support for Ukraine, updated trade deal
The two countries have also signed a modernized trade deal as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the country for the first time since Russia's full-scale assault of Ukraine began last year. The multi-year commitment includes $650 million over three years for 50 armoured vehicles that are to be built in London, Ont.

Here's what Canada is pledging in multi-year support for Ukraine, updated trade deal

Critical incident involving RCMP, B.C. Premier David Eby says

Critical incident involving RCMP, B.C. Premier David Eby says
British Columbia Premier David Eby says there's been a critical incident involving RCMP in the Metro Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam. A witness on the scene says she saw an officer with a bloody leg and a tourniquet above the wound. 

Critical incident involving RCMP, B.C. Premier David Eby says

White House rejects reports of tension with Canada over India interference allegation

White House rejects reports of tension with Canada over India interference allegation
The White House is pushing back against reports that Canada-U.S. relations are straining under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's seismic allegation that the government of India was involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen.  National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the U.S. shares Canada's "deep concerns" and denies any suggestion of a wedge between the two countries.   

White House rejects reports of tension with Canada over India interference allegation

First days of autumn expected to be cool and damp over most of British Columbia

First days of autumn expected to be cool and damp over most of British Columbia
Much of British Columbia will welcome the first week of fall with wet, cool conditions after enduring a summer of drought. Autumn officially begins at 11:50 p.m. Pacific time on Friday and Environment Canada forecasts show clouds and showers are expected to sweep across the south coast within hours of the autumnal equinox.

First days of autumn expected to be cool and damp over most of British Columbia

Woman assaulted in Coquitlam

Woman assaulted in Coquitlam
R-C-M-P in Coquitlam say a man has been charged following an attack on a woman walking along a popular urban trail in that Metro Vancouver city. Police say a 32-year-old man was charged with separate counts of assault with a weapon and assault by choking related to the September 7th attack.

Woman assaulted in Coquitlam