An Aldergrove commercial building, a house in Brookswood, and a townhouse in WIlloughby are among three Langley properties targeted as proceeds of crime by the provincial Director of Civil Forfeiture in a B.C. Supreme Court application filed with the Victoria registry.
According to the Aug. 13 application to seize the properties, the Aldergrove commercial building at 3088 275A St., the Brookswood house at 3745 208 St. and the townhouse, in a complex at 8476 207A St., were all connected to an illegal drug manufacturing operation.
It said police found "commercial-sized laboratory-grade equipment, one of which was contaminated with precursors used in the synthesis of fentanyl" inside the Aldergrove commercial building on March 26 of this year, the same day officers raided two other buildings, at 13925 McKechnie Rd. in Pitt Meadows and 12350 Seux Rd. in Mission.
All "were used as clandestine locations at which to manufacture, store, or distribute fentanyl, or to store and distribute the precursors or equipment used to synthesize fentanyl," the application said.
At the same time, police seized two trucks and a trailer, along with $1,860 in cash, which the director is looking to seize as well as well as the two residential properties, alleging they are "proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity" and should forfeited to the government.
The lawsuit names Cesar Douglas Escobar-Calderon, Harpal Singh Gill, Michaela Marie Butler Christensen (also known as Michaela Marie Gill), and One Oak Construction Ltd.
Gill and Christensen are registered owners of the Brookswood house, while Escobar-Calderon owned the Willoughby townhouse, according to the claim.
H. Gill is listed as a director and officer of One Oak, the company that owned the Aldergrove building.
According to the notice of civil claim, a police investigation found H. Gill "purchased substantial quantities of chemicals commonly found in clandestine laboratories," arranged for the chemicals to be delivered to the 275A Street building in Aldergrove, and purchased professional laboratory equipment from overseas. Escobar-Calderon was arrested at the Pitt Meadows site.
The documents contain claims that have not been proven in court. As of Wednesday, no response had been filed with the Victoria court registry.
In April, an RCMP press conference revealed raids on several locations, including Langley, Aldergrove, and Mission had dismantled "numerous" fentanyl production labs in B.C. and arrested a chemist.
While the labs were capable of producing massive amounts, there was no evidence the product was destined for U.S., police said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has slapped tariffs on Canada, ostensibly because of fentanyl being smuggled into the States.
But the amount intercepted by U.S. authorities in Canada has been minimal, according to their own statistics.
