The B.C. government wants four properties worth almost $6 million forfeited, citing links to three gangsters who are accused of conspiring to kill five people in 2022.
The director of civil forfeiture filed a statement of claim earlier this month, alleging that Gavinder Siekham had set up a criminal organization to direct his associates Navpreet Dhaliwal and Anmol Sandhu “in drug trafficking and murder.”
All three were charged with conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking in February after an Abbotsford Police Department investigation called Project High Table.
The case started as a drug trafficking probe targeting Sandhu and Dhaliwal, Abbotsford police Const. Art Stele told Postmedia at the time.
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.”
All the murder plots were foiled, he said.
More details of the alleged conspiracies are contained in the 15-page statement of claim, filed in B.C. Supreme Court on July 14.
The court document said the investigation began in August 2022 and led to the arrest that November of both Sandhu and Dhaliwal.
“The APD obtained a search warrant for their cellphones. The cellphones were seized and the APD located numerous chats and conversations that detailed the planning, logistics, and resources for several murders of rival gang members,” the director alleged.
“Between June 11, 2022, and Nov. 10, 2022, Gavinder Siekham conspired to commit the murder of five different individuals and entered into agreements with Navpreet Dhaliwal and Anmol Sidhu with the intention to put their common design into effect in order to murder five individuals.”
The phones contained “evidence related to money laundering and proceeds of crime through real estate and properties purchased through proxies” and “details of a criminal organization created by Gavinder Siekham,” the lawsuit alleged.
Two of the properties identified in the lawsuit — 13162 20 Ave. and 12489 23 Ave. in Surrey — are owned by Siekham and are jointly worth just over $4 million.
Siekham bought the 20th Avenue property in May 2020 and took out a mortgage, the director said. Siekham purchased the 23rd Avenue property in May 2023 and also obtained financing.
A relative of Dhaliwal’s became the registered owner of a condo at 16511 Watson Drive in Surrey in September 2021.
And a relative of Sandhu’s purchased a Langley condo at 19760 55th Ave in March 2022. The same day as the sale, an $800,000 mortgage was registered against the property by a company called Enver Creek Holdings Ltd. of which Siekham is the sole director, the lawsuit alleged. It was discharged six months later.
The two condos are assessed at $947,000 and $894,000.
The B.C. government agency is also seeking forfeiture of a 2023 Mercedes seized on Feb. 21, 2024, and registered to another Siekham company called Limitless Financial.
And the director wants to keep more than $80,000 found at an alleged stash house at 5858 132nd Street linked to the gang.
During a search of the property on Feb. 21, Abbotsford officers seized the cash, almost six kilograms of fentanyl, two kilos of cocaine and substantial amounts of heroin, methamphetamine and morphine pills.
There was also a Smith and Wesson handgun with the serial number filed off, a Glock 9mm handgun with a loaded drum magazine, and five GPS trackers.
The director said the properties, cash and vehicle should be forfeited because “a significant portion of the funds” used to buy and maintain them came from crimes like trafficking, money laundering, unauthorized possession of a firearm, conspiracy to commit murder, participating in the activities of a criminal organization and failure to declare taxable income.
No statement of defence has yet been filed in the case. None of the defendants has yet gone to trial in the criminal case.
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