B.C. targets money linked to drug ring bust
$30M in drugs, guns confiscated
The B.C. government wants to seize cash and bitcoin from the accounts of several people linked to a multimillion-dollar drug seizure that included almost four million doses of deadly fentanyl.
The director of civil forfeiture filed suit last month against Vu Bao Nguyen, his common-law spouse, Susan Bhatti, Kristopher Dobell and Byran James Balla, alleging their money and electronic currency are proceeds from a drug-trafficking operation.
Earlier this month, Victoria police and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) announced they seized an estimated $30-million worth of high-concentration fentanyl and other drugs, as well as firearms and cash after a months-long investigation into a drug ring operating on the Lower Mainland and the Island.
Three men were arrested, though no one has yet been charged and therefore no names have been released.
But sources confirmed to Postmedia News that the civil forfeiture suit naming Nguyen, Bhatti, Dobell and Balla resulted from the same probe, dubbed Project Juliet.
And three addresses mentioned in the director of civil forfeiture's statement of claim match some of those where police said search warrants were executed on Nov. 17 in the joint VicPD-CFSEU investigation.
The lawsuit claims that Nguyen has accounts under his own name, as well as under the aliases Franklin Munroe, Jong Won Lee and Anthony Tin Dinh, at several banks. And he has one with the digital currency exchange Coinbase, as does Balla, the suit says.
Bhatti, Balla and Dobell each have bank accounts in their own names, the director says.
“In April 2020, the VicPD commenced an investigation into drug trafficking activities of Mr. Nguyen, Mr. Balla and Mr. Dobell after receiving information that Mr. Dobell was supplying fentanyl and other controlled substances to Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Balla to sell in the Victoria area,” the statement of claim says.
On June 23, Victoria police responded to a call about a domestic dispute at an apartment on Humboldt Street used by Nguyen and found 29 grams of cocaine, dime bags, rubber bands, two money counting machines and $7,820 in cash, the suit says.
In July, officers allegedly made undercover fentanyl purchases from both Nguyen and Balla.
“On July 29, 2020, Mr. Nguyen advised undercover officers he was producing approximately three to four kilograms of fentanyl per month. Mr. Nguyen also discussed laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking,” court documents said.
In a later conversation, Nguyen allegedly “advised that the cost of one kilogram of fentanyl would be $140,000 plus a $5,000 brokerage fee to Mr. Nguyen.”
The director claims the bank accounts “were used to purchase controlled substances and receive the proceeds from the sale of controlled substances and at least one of the accounts was used to fraudulently receive income assistance from the Province of British Columbia.”