Forfeiture case is filed against alleged dealers
The B.C. government wants a property in Clearwater forfeited, alleging its owners are drug dealers for the Brothers Keepers gang.
The director of civil forfeiture filed a lawsuit last week against siblings Jennifer and Brian Manuel over an acreage they purchased last August for $183,500 in the B.C. Interior community.
The director alleges the brother and sister duo sell drugs for the Lower Mainland gang that has expanded its reach across B.C. and into other provinces.
“In July of 2019, the RCMP began investigating the drug trafficking operation of the criminal organization Brothers Keepers,” says the statement of claim, filed in B.C. Supreme Court on March 31.
“The RCMP identified Ms. Manuel as a drug trafficker employed by the Brother Keepers in Kamloops.”
The lawsuit says the Mounties conducted surveillance of Jennifer Manuel on March 14, 2020, and saw her arrive at the property, at 183 Jenkins Rd., in a truck that is also sought in the lawsuit for forfeiture.
She was observed packaging drugs in the residence and seen accessing a travel trailer on the property to retrieve a large Ziploc bag before departing.
“The RCMP conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle and arrested Ms. Manuel for possession for the purpose of trafficking,” the claim states, adding that in her vehicle police found 225 grams of fentanyl, 1.6 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 463 grams of cocaine.
They also found scales, scoresheets and about $25,000 cash.
Police then executed a search warrant at the property and found a Ziploc full of cocaine, methamphetamine residue on a counter, a mixing bowl and a measuring cup containing cocaine residue, two long guns, magazines with ammunition and a silencer.
“The RCMP determined the property was being used to process and package controlled substances.”
The director said Jennifer Manuel, 37, has prior convictions for possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a controlled substance, wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer, and breaching a conditional sentence.
According to the B.C. Provincial Court online database, she is currently facing aggravated assault and firearms charges related to a May 2019 incident in Kamloops. She is due back in provincial court in July on those charges.
Both the Clearwater property and the truck should be forfeited because they “are proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity,” the director said.
The government said that among the crimes the siblings are engaged in are production and possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime, money laundering, possession of a prohibited weapon, and failure to declare taxable income.
Neither sibling has yet filed a statement of defence.
Also last month, B.C.’s antigang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit executed a search warrant at a Surrey home as part of an ongoing investigation into the Brothers Keepers gang.