The owner of the rural Shuswap-area property where police claimed to uncover Canada’s largest drug “superlab” says he did not participate in any unlawful activity and his land ought not to be forfeited to the B.C. government.
In response to a claim filed Jan. 31 by the Director of Civil Forfeiture, Michael Driehuyzen says he was a landlord for 5011 Hoath Road in Falkland, where the B.C. RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime unit executed a search warrant on Oct. 25, 2024, finding 52 kilograms of fentanyl, 30 kilograms of MDMA, equipment and several tonnes of precursor chemicals, according to the director’s claim.
Driehuyzen said he purchased the property with savings from his employment, including as an electrician, and as such no portion of the property represents proceeds of crime.
“The Defendant, as landlord, did not participate or acquiesce in any unlawful activity at the Property done by his tenant or his tenant’s agents,” stated the response filed by criminal defence lawyer Joel Whysall on Feb.11.
Furthermore, “the RCMP violated the Defendant’s Charter rights in the course of the investigation and search and seizures at the Property,” the response states.
Driehuyzen opposes any granting of relief to the director, whose office is an independent branch of the B.C. government.
The claim comes before any criminality is proven beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
This is because under the Civil Forfeiture Act, the director must only establish that the property in question is either proceeds of or an instrument of unlawful activity on a balance of probabilities.
Meanwhile, the claim’s co-defendant, Gaganpreet Randhawa, has yet to file a response.
Randhawa remains the only person criminally charged in relation to the allegations.
The director also seeks the forfeiture of the following pieces of equipment police say were located and seized at the property: a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph, an industrial-grade power generator, a pump service trailer and a flat deck.
Police estimated the drugs — enough to create 95.5 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl — are worth $485 million.
The claim notes the property was lined with “a sophisticated system of security cameras hidden throughout.”
It also notes in 2015 and 2016 police executed search warrants and found an “unlawful cannabis grow operation” at the property, while Driehuyzen was the owner.
