ONTARIO: Langley RCMP helped organize the forfeiture of $125,000 cash seized in a 2012 drug trafficking investigation and arrest.
On Aug. 1, 2012, acting on an anonymous tip advising police of individuals transporting marijuana from B.C. to Ontario, the Langley RCMP drug section arrested two men, seized 17.5 lbs of packaged marijuana, seized $121,590 cash and a 2005 Volvo rig the Ontario man was driving.
That day, the Langley RCMP drug section witnessed a 41-year-old Coquitlam man hand over a large black garbage bag to a 50-year-old Ontario man. This occurred in a local Langley hotel parking lot.
Constables Mike Schnerch, Langley’s asset forfeiture co-ordinator, and Eric Dykeman, of the Langley drug section, reviewed the file and submitted it for possible civil forfeiture.
Last month, Langley RCMP were informed the Civil Forfeiture Proceedings had concluded and the cash totalling nearly $125,000 had been ordered forfeited. The pot had been destroyed.
Stays of proceedings were entered on all charges for both accused in December 2013.
The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office is entirely self-funding and relies on revenues from successful forfeiture. These monies are used in part to fund crime prevention efforts by police and community groups across B.C. Since the program began, it has returned approximately $15 million from successful forfeiture actions to crime prevention and victims programs in B.C, including programs in the Langley area
