The B.C. government is suing for the property of a Surrey towing business owner charged after an undercover Burnaby RCMP investigation into catalytic converter. thefts.
The province's director of civil forfeiture filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court last month, claiming Jasvindar Singh, the owner of A-Jazz Mobile Trading and Towing in Surrey, had bought a total of 45 catalytic converters from undercover police officers "with the understanding they were stolen."
The emission control devices have a high resale value because of precious metals they contain, and ICBC gets millions of dollars in claims for stolen catalytic converters every year.
The director is now seeking the forfeiture of a Surrey home Singh owns with his spouse, the money in his bank accounts and more than $210,000 in cash seized from his residence, saying they are all the "proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity," according to the notice of civil claim.
The allegations stem from an investigation launched by Burnaby RCMP in March 2021.
The probe culminated in 24 undercover operations directed at Singh between June 10, 2022 and May 24, 2023, according to the claim.
The director says Singh paid out a total of $12,040 for the 45 catalytic converters offered up by the undercover officers.
Singh was arrested on June 1, 2023 after search warrants at his home and business turned up 437 catalytic converters and multiple $10,000 bundles of cash "packaged in a manner not consistent standard banking practices," according to the claim.
He was charged in May with possession of stolen property over $5,000 and trafficking in stolen property over $5,000.
The director of civil forfeiture alleges Singh's unlawful activity also included tax evasion, money laundering and conspiring to commit an offence.
Last month, the director successfully applied for a court order freezing Singh's and A-Jazz Mobile's CIBC bank accounts and allowing police to hold on to the seized catalytic converters and $210,000 cash.
Singh has not yet filed a response to the civil forfeiture suit.
None of the allegations in the notice of civil claim have been proven in court.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on X/Twitter @CorNaylor
Email [email protected]
