The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office has filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court to seize a White Rock house that police say was used as a drug lab.
Court documents filed Aug. 31 allege the home, at 849 Parker St., was used for the nefarious activity “for some or all of the time between May 25, 2015 and May 3, 2016.”
On the latter date, officers with the Mounties’ Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, with assistance from White Rock RCMP and the Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team, descended on the blue, two-storey house around 5:30 p.m. The raid, police said the following day, followed an investigation that began “a couple months” prior.
Two people were arrested at the home.
Frederic Wilson-Koonpackdee, 46, and Pardeep Grewal, 31, were subsequently charged with multiple drug-related offences, including possession for the purpose of trafficking. Grewal is scheduled to appear at Surrey Provincial Court today (Friday).
One week after the raid, police shared the results of the search conducted at the home, listing multiple weapons, drugs and cash as among items seized. A news release also noted that testing confirmed the presence of fentanyl.
Thursday, Nav Basi, a Surrey real estate agent, confirmed that he owns the subject home, however, he said he has not yet been served with the court documents.
He described the court action as “unfair.”
“This has never happened to me before,” he told Peace Arch News. “It’s just ridiculous.”
The Civil Forfeiture Office is seeking a judicial order to seize the house – built in 1954, its assessed value as of July 1, 2015 is $640,600 – and for Basi to pay the government “all fruits or proceeds from the property” since he took ownership.
Basi told PAN he bought the house in May 2015 and initially lived there himself before renting it out some time prior to the drug bust.
While court documents allege Basi “knew or ought to have known the manner in which the property was being used and is likely to be used in the future” or “was willfully blind to the manner in which the property was used and is likely to be used in the future,” Basi disagreed.
“They weren’t in there for too long,” he said of his renters.
“If I knew anything like this would happen, why would I rent my house out to someone like this?”
Basi described the CFO as having “way too many rights,” and said he’s being forced to fight in court when he’s not guilty.
“It’s fine if you’re going after the bad guys, but when you’re starting to go after the good guys – people that are legitimate income-producing people, that actually pay their taxes – I just don’t get it.”
A statement of defence has yet to be filed.
– with files from Tracy Holmes
