Seizure of meth precursors merits condo forfeiture: suit

Just before Christmas, Richmond RCMP officers entered a luxury condo overlooking the Fraser River where they allege they found tens of thousands of dollars and boxes full of chemicals used to make fentanyl and methamphetamine.

While no criminal charges have been filed against the residents of the unit at 5131 Brighouse Way, the B.C. government wants to seize the $3.2-million condo, alleging links to criminal activity.

The director of civil forfeiture filed a lawsuit earlier this month against owner Ya Ran Li and her spouse Tian Yi Zhang, asking that the three-bedroom, four-bathroom unit with an Italian kitchen should be forfeited to the government.

The statement of claim says that RCMP officers arrested Zhang, Li and an unnamed associate on Dec. 20, 2023, then searched the waterfront unit.

The lawsuit said Zhang and an associate “picked up two boxes from the concierge desk of the property strata building ” that day.

“The first box contained five heat-sealed foil bags, each weighing approximately five kilograms — one bag of iodine and four bags of sodium hydroxide,” the document alleged. “The second box also contained five heat-sealed bags, which weighed approximately five kilograms — three bags of iodine and two bags of benzo methyl ketone.”

All three of the chemicals are used to produce methamphetamine.

Zhang and his associate carried the boxes to the fifth floor and appeared to be headed to the 2,760-square-foot condo when police moved in and arrested them for importing a controlled substance into Canada and possession of precursors, the director alleged.

The boxes were addressed to Li, who was home at the time and also taken into custody.

Inside the suite, police seized the cash: $53,650 Canadian, “bundled or packaged in a manner not consistent with standard banking practices,” as well as a cash-counting machine, the lawsuit alleged.

There were also two more “cardboard boxes, each weighing approximately 25 kilograms and containing a white powder” located under the stairs close to most of the cash. Inside was a chemical called “4-fluoro anilino-1-boc-piperidine.”

According to the federal Health Department, the chemical is used to make fentanyl. It has been restricted since July 2022 after the government added it to a list of substances that “may pose a risk to public health or safety ... with no legitimate purpose being imported into Canada or being distributed in Canada.”

The civil forfeiture director said that the condo should be forfeited because it, as well as “the money and the machine, are proceeds of an instrument of unlawful activity.”

The crimes alleged include importing, producing and possessing controlled substances for the purpose of trafficking, as well as conspiracy, money laundering and possession of the proceeds of crime and failure to declare taxable income.

The condo was listed for sale in the spring of 2021 for $3.5 million and was advertised as having “unobstructed river views and mountain views from huge decks.”

Li bought it for $300,000 less, obtained a mortgage, and took possession in September 2021.

Neither Li nor Zhang have filed statements of defence in the case. The allegations have not been proven.

The RCMP recently revealed that Canadian transnational criminals are now producing methamphetamine and fentanyl in superlabs across the country to export to the United States and overseas — an issue Postmedia investigated in a series called Lethal Exports.