Nearly $130,000 RCMP seized during a pullover near Valemount is now property of the provincial government.
B.C.'s civil forfeiture director secured a court order earlier this month designating the cash as proceeds of crime and handing it over to the Crown.
It was uncovered in March 2022 when RCMP conducted a traffic stop on Highway 5 after noticing a rental car travelling above the posted speed limit. Coleten Tyler Garnier of Edmonton was the driver and Irfan Suri Jr., also of Edmonton, was the passenger, according to a notice of claim the director subsequently filed in October 2022.
The two became the subject of a trafficking investigation - details on how it came about were not provided other than to say a police service dog provided a "positive identification of a controlled substance" - and a search uncovered a black bag containing bundles of cash adding up to $129,880, according to both the claim and the director's application seeking the order.
"The Money was bundled or packaged in a manner not consistent with standard banking practices," the claim states.
Garnier and Suri Jr. were arrested on suspicion of possessing proceeds of crime as well as on suspicion of trafficking.
Also noted in the claim, 10 cellphones were located in the car, a police service dog subsequently found traces of drugs on the cash and through a tracing system, serial numbers from five of the banknotes were linked to criminal offences.
A lawyer representing the two was served with the claim the same month it was filed, but by December 2022, the director was notified that the two were seeking new counsel. The director had not received communication from the two or anyone else on their behalf since then.
On March 27, the director filed an application seeking an order to forfeit the cash and, on April 3, it was endorsed by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.
