Brandon Shiu Nandan had an “office” in Burnaby – but it wasn’t just any old office.
Unit 3901 at 6461 Telford Ave. was where Nandan mixed, dyed and packaged fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs for sale, according to facts shared in a Vancouver courtroom last week.
The Metrotown highrise apartment is also where, in 2020, police listened in on his plans to have someone who ripped him off shot in exchange for money and drugs.
Nandan, 29, was handed a 15-year prison sentenced in B.C. provincial court last Wednesday after pleading guilty to drug dealing, multiple weapons charges and trying to have someone shot.
He had originally been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, but a plea deal saw him sentenced for the lesser charge of counselling someone to commit an indictable offence that didn’t happen.
Branson Sanders killing
This isn’t Nandan’s first prison sentence – nor the first time he’s engineered a plan to hurt someone.
In 2014, he was sentenced to six years after he and a co-accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2011 drug-related killing of 20-year-old Branson Sanders, whose burned body was found in Robert Burnaby Park.
His sentencing judge in that case noted Nandan had said he’d only meant to arrange “a minor beating.”
After credit for time served, Nandan was eventually sentenced to five years and 71 days – a period that should have ended around June 20, 2019.
When exactly he got out of prison is unclear, however. Correctional Services Canada said they couldn’t reveal when Nandan was released because of privacy laws, and the Parole Board of Canada told the NOW there were no “releasable” decisions about his parole.
Drugs and weapons
Whenever he was released, it’s clear he was back in trouble with the law by June 27, 2019, according to agreed facts presented at his sentencing.
He was arrested in Langley on that day during a sting targeting a dial-a-dope operation.
In his car, police found a Kinder Egg of fentanyl and crack cocaine, bear spray and a hammer between the door and driver’s seat.
He was released pending charges.
Officers found scarier weapons and a lot more drugs a year later, on June 25, 2020, when they raided a condo Nandan and his brother had rented in Langley.
Along with $83,000 worth of fentanyl, cocaine, MDMA, benzodiazipine, methamphetamine and other drugs lying around in bowls, Tupperware containers, trays and Ziploc bags, police found multiple Tasers, body armour, boxes of ammunition, a loaded zip gun and a loaded 9 mm Barretta semi-automatic pistol. Again, Nandan was arrested and released pending charges.
A few months later, he ended up in the crosshairs of the province’s anti-gang agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
‘Murder conspiracy’
In late October 2020, CFSEU had been investigating a suspected murder conspiracy aimed at taking out A.B. – “a person known to be heavily involved in criminal activity,” according to provincial Crown prosecutor Michael Lefebure.
Investigators had a warrant to listen in on the conversations of their main suspect, “Person A,” a street-level drug dealer, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
After police raided Person A’s house and seized Person A’s cell phone on Oct. 23, 2020, however, the focus of the investigation quickly switched to Nandan.
On Person A’s phone, investigators found conversations between Person A and Nandan that showed Nandan had been counseling Person A to shoot A.B. since Sept. 1, 2020.
Nandan had provided Person A with a loaded 9 mm CZ TT9 semi-automatic pistol, sent Person A photos of A.B. and satellite images of A.B.’s home and discussed how Person A could obtain a getaway car for the job.
“Person A was to be paid cash and drugs by Mr. Nandan in return for committing the shooting but was arrested before the shooting could be attempted,” Lefebure said.
Nandan told Person A that A.B. had ripped Nandan off for a “large sum of money.”
Listening in
CFSEU soon got a warrant to listen in on Nandan’s private communications and bugged his vehicle and Telford Avenue “office.”
They heard enough to indicate Nandan was a drug trafficker who “supplied and managed several street-level dealers,” according to Lefebure.
On Nov. 18, 2020, police intercepted a phone call during which Nandan discussed the possibility a recent overdose death had been due to his drugs.
“Intercepted communications show that Mr. Nandan changed the packaging and colour of his drugs due to media coverage of overdose deaths,” Lefebure said.
Defence lawyer Ian Donaldson, however, said Nandan and others involved in the discussion had concluded Nandan’s drugs were not to blame for the death.
“The change of packaging relates to a desire to continue to sell, not to continue to sell something believed to be toxic by changing its colour,” Donaldson said.
‘You’ve got a lot of making up to do’
Police raided the Telford office and Nandan’s condo at 6353 McKay simultaneously on Dec. 1, 2020.
At the office, they found more than $100,000 in fentanyl, cocaine, meth and other drugs, as well as a Taser and 350 rounds of ammunition.
Nandan was arrested outside of his McKay condo with help from a bean-bag gun and police dog.
“Mr. Nandan still has ongoing physical effects from these dog bites,” Donaldson said.
In his possession, Nandan had a loaded 9 mm Glock-style polymer “ghost gun” with a silencer and no serial number.
He was charged with a slew of drug and weapons offences, including conspiracy to commit murder with a firearm, in March 2021.
After credit for time served, Nandan was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 13 more years in prison.
As aggravating factors, Crown prosecutors noted Nandan had trafficked in fentanyl during an escalating overdose crisis and possessed prohibited weapons while bound by a firearms ban – all after already serving a significant sentence for a drug-related killing.
His actions had also endangered his neighbours, said federal Crown prosecutor Alexandra Russell.
“Mr. Nandan was residing and engaging in his fentanyl trafficking activity in a multi-unit residential building, which puts member of the public at significant risk from fentanyl activity as well as the presence of weapons in that space,” she said.
After delivering his sentence, B.C. provincial court Judge David St. Pierre urged Nandan to use his time in prison to reflect on his actions and make change.
“You’ve got a lot of making up to do,” St. Pierre said.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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