Investigation leads to murder-plot charges
Probe into drug lab uncovers alleged conspiracy linked to Burnaby homicide
Eight members of a B.C. criminal organization are facing several drug and firearms charges after an 18-month-long investigation by the RCMP'S federal serious and organized crime unit that resulted in the dismantling of a sophisticated, large-scale, illicit drug lab.
While working on its probe, FSOC officers uncovered details of a murder plot allegedly involving Michael Manpreet Johal — one of the criminal group's members.
Johal has now been charged with conspiring to kill an Abbotsford man who was later shot to death.
RCMP Cpl. Arash Seyed told a news conference Friday that among the other men charged with drug and gun charges are Richard Sen, Jagdeep Singh Cheema, Kevin Moebes and Michael David Rast.
Johal, Sen and Moebes also face more serious criminal organization charges.
And three others linked to the same criminal group were arrested in an overlapping Abbotsford police drug investigation.
As in the FSOC probe, Abbotsford officers uncovered evidence of plans to murder rivals and began a spinoff investigation dubbed Project High Table.
That probe resulted in conspiracy-to-commit-murder charges being laid against Anmol Sandhu, Navdeep Dhaliwal and Gavinder Siekham.
Sandhu and Dhaliwal were targets of the original drug investigation, Abbotsford police Const. Art Stele told Postmedia News. He said that the three men “were communicating back and forth ... we have evidence that they were communicating to murder rival gang members who are all active within the continuing and brutal gang conflict.” He declined to name the targets, but said the murder plots were foiled.
Abbotsford investigators worked with the FSOC and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team throughout.
Meanwhile, IHIT released more details of the murder conspiracy in which Johal is charged. Sgt. Timothy Pierotti said the conspiracy resulted in the Burnaby slaying last September of Gagandeep Sandhu, who was gunned down in an underground parkade in the 3400-block of North Road.
“Intelligence sharing and strong partnerships, alongside the hard work of our investigators, is fundamental to IHIT'S success,” Pierotti said. “This remains an open homicide investigation and we still ask that anyone with information, who has yet to speak to the police, comes forward.”
Postmedia has learned that some of those charged Friday have links to the UN gang, while the three arrested by Abbotsford police have had connections to the rival Brothers Keepers gang.
Seyed explained that rival mid-level gangsters may still have connections to the same higher-level drug producers while being in conflict with each other. He said the FSOC probe began in September 2022, resulting in 11 searches on March 1, 2023.
Police seized a total of 356,000 counterfeit pills purporting to be Percocets, Oxycontin, Xanax and Adderall, but all contained fentanyl and some contained the more deadly carfentanil.
RCMP Chief Supt. David Teboul said the industrial-sized drug lab in South Surrey could produce 60,000 pills an hour, meaning its operators were likely involved in exportation to other countries on top of production for the domestic market. Police also seized four illegal firearms, over 1,500 rounds of ammunition, and 168 kilograms of precursor chemicals containing fentanyl, benzodiazepines, methamphetamines and carfentanil.
RCMP Acting Supt. Jillian Wellard said “the details of these multi-faceted and intertwined investigations provide a glimpse into the complex nature, and interconnectedness, of organized crime groups.”
“They also highlight the role of organized crime in fuelling the continuing toxic drug crisis in B.C. and the dangers of counterfeit medication laced with potentially lethal carfentanil, that seem indistinguishable from genuine pharmaceuticals.”
B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth congratulated the agencies involved in the probe.
“Gangs and organized crime are fuelling the toxic drug crisis, killing thousands of British Columbians every year and hurting communities across our province,” he said in a statement. “This significant seizure has kept millions of potentially lethal doses of toxic drugs from reaching our communities. Further, by arresting these individuals, these agencies have disrupted violent gang conflicts, helping to keep people safer from dangerous criminals in our province.”