CIVIL FORFEITURE CLAIM FILED AGAINST ABBOTSFORD GROW-OP HOME

An Abbotsford home is the subject of a civil forfeiture claim in B.C.
Supreme Court, with the provincial government alleging the residence
was purchased with the proceeds of crime.

The three-storey home is located at 3302 Siskin Drive and is
registered to Iqbal Singh Gill, Sarmukh Singh Gill and Harbans Kaur
Gill, who purchased the property in May 2003, according to the notice
of civil claim.

The director of civil forfeiture alleges the two-storey garage of the
home was used as a marijuana grow-op from the time of the purchase
until March 2011.

Proceeds from the sale of marijuana were used toward the home's down
payment, mortgage, property taxes, improvements and maintenance, the
claim states.

The home was busted by Abbotsford Police on March 17 of this year and
was allegedly found to contain more than 1,000 marijuana plants, 52
lights, a handgun, a submachine gun, an assault rifle, ammunition,
$4,000 in cash and a device for obtaining electricity without it being
metered.

The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Act was passed in 2006, permitting the
provincial government to apply to court to obtain property that was
obtained through criminal activity.

If a judge decides a property must be forfeited, it can then be sold
and the proceeds used by the government for victim compensation, crime
prevention activities, crime remediation activities, and
administration of the act.

Two homes in Abbotsford that housed grow-ops were seized by the
government in 2007 - one on Simpson Road and the other on Willet. They
were sold, the mortgages paid off, and $230,000 was paid to the government.

A 2004 Hummer H2 that was seized from a Victoria man who was convicted
of drug and weapon offences has been used by the Abbotsford Police
Department (APD) since February for anti-gang messaging.

The vehicle was transformed into the black-and-white theme of the APD.
Police lights and a "skin" of anti-crime graphics and messages were
added.

Last year, the civil forfeiture office concluded 74 cases and secured
18 properties, six vehicles and 56 sums of cash, according to the
provincial government.

Since Jan. 1 of this year, police have referred 60 new files, and more
than 200 cases are ongoing. The net value of those assets is $22.6
million.