Before Richmond Provincial Court Judge Bonnie Craig started reading out her verdict in an attempted murder case Thursday, she handed a copy of it to accused Thomas Duong, as well as his lawyer and the Crown prosecutor.

Duong no doubt flipped to the end to learn that she had convicted him of trying to kill his former associate Matin Pouyan on Aug. 21, 2015. He didn’t show any obvious reaction to what he read.

The rest of us in the courtroom had to listen for more than 90 minutes to hear that the 22-year-old gangster was guilty of attempted murder and discharging a firearm.

He didn’t have any obvious reaction to the ruling.

NOTE: I am away this weekend, starting this afternoon so am closing comments until Monday morning

Here’s my story:

CFSEU photo after Aug. 21, 2015 Dover Park shooting

Judge convicts young gangster in 2015 Richmond park shooting

A young gangster was convicted Thursday in the August 2015 attempt to kill his own associate in Richmond’s Dover Park.

Richmond Provincial Court Judge Bonnie Craig said the circumstantial evidence at trial proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Thomas Duong participated in the near-fatal shooting of Matin Pouyan on the night of Aug. 21, 2015.

Craig agreed with the defence that there was no apparent motive behind the murder plot and that Duong and Pouyan had been seen hanging out together on the day of the shooting.

But she also accepted the Crown’s submissions that events both before and after Pouyan was shot that night proved that Duong and his co-accused Sahad Askari planned to kill Pouyan, then disposed of the evidence.  

Sahand Askari

Pouyan was struck in his face and shoulder, but managed to make his way across Westminster Highway to seek help at a local gas station.

He refused to cooperate with police.   

“This was a determined effort to shoot Mr. Pouyan that shows a clear intention to kill him,” Craig said.

Askari is believed to have fled Canada before charges were approved in the case.

Craig heard that all three men were associated to the United Nations gang at the time of the shooting.

All three were also under the surveillance by anti-gang police investigating an unrelated crime, details of which were not disclosed in Craig’s ruling.

One of the officers doing surveillance saw Askari and Duong get out of Askari’s Mercedes and walk into the park before seeing Pouyan arrive and park nearby. But there were no witnesses to the actual shooting.

Three shots, then loud screaming, then a fourth shot were captured on a listening device planted on Askari’s car.

Witnesses who lived near the park, including former solicitor-general Kash Heed, also testified about hearing the shots and the screams.

Craig accepted that the only reasonable inference is that Askari and Duong agreed to meet Pouyan the park that night to carry out their plan.

She accepted the arguments of prosecutor Joe Bellows that the circumstantial evidence was strong in the case.

Askari and Duong were seen by police meeting in the park the day before the shooting.

The following night, Askari picked Duong up at his apartment at 5111 Brighouse Way about 10:34 p.m.

Askari’s Mercedes stopped for several minutes on River Road where Duong can be heard in an intercepted conversation asking if “that thing’s ready.” Askari responds: “ready.”

Duong and Askari circled Dover Park once before parking, which Craig said suggested they “knew they were going to murder Mr. Pouyan and wanted to ensure there were no impediments.”

After the gunshots were heard, the pair were breathing heavily as they approached the Mercedes to leave. Duong can be heard saying “F–k.”

The defence argued his comment was consistent with him being surprised and shocked that Pouyan had been shot.

But Craig accepted that it was more likely Duong, 22, was swearing because the attempted hit was unsuccessful.

After they left Dover Park, Askari and Duong drove to a nearby business parking lot where they met a man who had previously been seen with Duong at his apartment building.

They handed him a bag and he left.

Craig accepted that clothing used during the shooting, as well as other evidence, was placed in the bag.

Askari was arrested the next morning at his Burnaby apartment, while Duong was picked up at his Richmond residence.

Tests showed Askari had some gunshot residue on his face, while Duong had it on both hands.

“It is reasonable to infer that the residue was deposited when Mr. Duong was holding a gun that was used to shoot Mr. Pouyan,” Craig said.

Duong will be sentenced March 21.

Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said the agency was pleased with the conviction.

“This was a complex CFSEU-BC investigation that took a significant amount of resources and targeted the highest levels of gang activity and individuals involved in significant violence,” she said. “While we will potentially reserve further c‎omment until after sentencing, we are pleased with the conviction and will await further court decisions.”

Kbolan@postmedia.com

A longtime Vancouver Hells Angel is offering to help people get licences to grow their own medical marijuana “everywhere in Canada except Quebec!!!!”

Hal Bruce Porteous, 45, made the offer in an Instagram post, asking followers who want the licence to send him a direct message.

“If anyone is in serious pain and doesn’t want to take prescription medication and would like a medical marijuana license to grow there (sic) own medication, please DM me. This is legal!!” said Porteous, a member of the biker gang’s Vancouver chapter. “Permitted 4 licences at each address!!!!”

Retired police biker expert Andy Richards obtained a copy of the post and provided it to Postmedia. He said it is of concern when a member of a criminal organization appears to be brokering licences in the medical marijuana industry.

“Law enforcement has suggested for the last few years that organized crime had infiltrated the (Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations) system primarily through nominee licences,” said Richards, who is CEO of Spire Secure Logistics. “This is a bit more concerning because this demonstrates — if anybody needed more evidence — that they in fact control and broker and sell these licences across Canada. And for a country and industry that’s looking to legitimize in the next 12 months into a regulated, compliant non-black market scenario, this is not a good starting point.”

Porteous’s Instagram account is set to private, but Richards said the post “was brought to our attention. We do high-level consulting work with companies in that sector.”

This week, the B.C. government released new rules for recreational cannabis when it is legalized, saying it would be sold in both public and private stores to those over 19. But the new pot rules don’t affect medical cannabis, which will continue to be sold online by federally licensed producers under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations.

Hal Porteous singing.

B.C.’s anti-gang agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, also has concerns about Porteous’s apparent online offer of assistance for medical cannabis growing licences.

“It concerns the CFSEU-B.C. that a member of the Hells Angels is publicly offering to broker licences for individuals to grow marijuana,” Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said. “While the licences may be legal, it is well documented that the Hells Angels, and many of their members, are involved in and have been convicted of criminal activity worldwide.”

Health Canada spokeswoman Sindy Souffront said any applicant for a medical growing licence is subject to a security check. “Every application undergoes a detailed assessment and review, including an in-depth security check undertaken by the RCMP,” she said.

Asked if the review could determine if an applicant was fronting for someone else, she said: “Health Canada can only talk about anything related to the application and creating the rules. But when it comes to actual implementation and a situation like this, I think you have to talk to the RCMP.”

A decade ago, U.S. authorities linked Porteous to a massive cross-border drug smuggling ring, but he was never charged. His close associates, Rob Shannon and Jody York, both pleaded guilty in the U.S. case, along with several other B.C. men. Shannon was sentenced to 20 years in jail, while York got five years. Both have since been released and returned to Canada. U.S. government authorities said the conspirators moved $19 million worth of marijuana and cocaine across the border over five years and that they were working for the Hells Angels in B.C.

Porteous, who owns Midas Touch Diamond and Design, did not respond to a request for comment.

Hal Porteous backstage with singer Rihanna.

Both Shannon and York appeared in a video for a rap song Porteous recorded called OSG. He released it on a 2015 CD of the same name. Porteous’s Facebook page features photos of him rapping and backstage with singers Fergie and Rihanna.

Porteous’s name surfaced in a 2004 trial of a onetime Hells Angels prospect, who was convicted of beating a man he believed had stolen marijuana belonging to Porteous.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

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Sorry for the delay in reopening Real Scoop comments. I have been battling the cold/flu that so many have. But I am back at work, though off on holidays next week.

I wrote this story a couple of days ago – Hal Porteous offering help on his Instagram account to those wanting to get licences to grow their own medical cannabis. The medical system will remain in tact and parallel to the implementation of the recreational pot system this summer. The B.C. government announced our province’s rules earlier this week for non-medical pot: Stand-alone public and private stores, legal possession of up to 30 grams, ability to grow up to four plants out of site, etc.

Here’s my story about Porteous and his history:

A longtime Vancouver Hells Angel is offering to help people get licences to grow their own medical marijuana “everywhere in Canada except Quebec!!!!”

Hal Bruce Porteous, 45, made the offer in an Instagram post, asking followers who want the licence to send him a direct message.

“If anyone is in serious pain and doesn’t want to take prescription medication and would like a medical marijuana license to grow there (sic) own medication, please DM me. This is legal!!” said Porteous, a member of the biker gang’s Vancouver chapter. “Permitted 4 licences at each address!!!!”

Retired police biker expert Andy Richards obtained a copy of the post and provided it to Postmedia. He said it is of concern when a member of a criminal organization appears to be brokering licences in the medical marijuana industry.

“Law enforcement has suggested for the last few years that organized crime had infiltrated the (Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations) system primarily through nominee licences,” said Richards, who is CEO of Spire Secure Logistics. “This is a bit more concerning because this demonstrates — if anybody needed more evidence — that they in fact control and broker and sell these licences across Canada. And for a country and industry that’s looking to legitimize in the next 12 months into a regulated, compliant non-black market scenario, this is not a good starting point.”

Porteous’s Instagram account is set to private, but Richards said the post “was brought to our attention. We do high-level consulting work with companies in that sector.”

This week, the B.C. government released new rules for recreational cannabis when it is legalized, saying it would be sold in both public and private stores to those over 19. But the new pot rules don’t affect medical cannabis, which will continue to be sold online by federally licensed producers under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations.

B.C.’s anti-gang agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, also has concerns about Porteous’s apparent online offer of assistance for medical cannabis growing licences.

“It concerns the CFSEU-B.C. that a member of the Hells Angels is publicly offering to broker licences for individuals to grow marijuana,” Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said. “While the licences may be legal, it is well documented that the Hells Angels, and many of their members, are involved in and have been convicted of criminal activity worldwide.”

Hal Porteous singing.

Health Canada spokeswoman Sindy Souffront said any applicant for a medical growing licence is subject to a security check. “Every application undergoes a detailed assessment and review, including an in-depth security check undertaken by the RCMP,” she said.

Asked if the review could determine if an applicant was fronting for someone else, she said: “Health Canada can only talk about anything related to the application and creating the rules. But when it comes to actual implementation and a situation like this, I think you have to talk to the RCMP.”

A decade ago, U.S. authorities linked Porteous to a massive cross-border drug smuggling ring, but he was never charged. His close associates, Rob Shannon and Jody York, both pleaded guilty in the U.S. case, along with several other B.C. men. Shannon was sentenced to 20 years in jail, while York got five years. Both have since been released and returned to Canada. U.S. government authorities said the conspirators moved $19 million worth of marijuana and cocaine across the border over five years and that they were working for the Hells Angels in B.C.

Porteous, who owns Midas Touch Diamond and Design, did not respond to a request for comment.

Both Shannon and York appeared in a video for a rap song Porteous recorded called OSG. He released it on a 2015 CD of the same name. Porteous’s Facebook page features photos of him rapping and backstage with singers Fergie and Rihanna.

Porteous’s name surfaced in a 2004 trial of a onetime Hells Angels prospect, who was convicted of beating a man he believed had stolen marijuana belonging to Porteous.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

The trial for gangster Jamie Bacon on a charge of counselling to commit murder has been delayed from April until September.

Bacon, who lost a bid in January to be released on bail pending the upcoming trial, will now remain in custody even longer before getting his day in court.

Dan McLaughlin, who speaks for the B.C. Attorney General’s criminal justice branch, confirmed Thursday that the case is now set for jury selection on Sept. 4.

“The adjournment of the Bacon trial was ordered when it became apparent that the April trial date was no longer viable,” McLaughlin said in an email. “The scheduling issues that precipitated the adjournment were discussed in camera and cannot be reported.”

Bacon had been facing murder and conspiracy charges in connection with the Surrey Six slayings until last Dec. 1 when a B.C. Supreme Court judge stayed both counts after a secret pretrial hearing. The Crown is appealing that ruling.

But he is still facing one count of counselling someone to commit murder in connection with the failed attempt to kill a former associate in December 2008.

That trial had been set to begin on April 3.

Bacon has been in jail since April 3, 2009, when he was arrested at his parents’ former Abbotsford home in connection with the Surrey Six case. He was originally charged with plotting the murder of gang rival Corey Lal, as well as Lal’s first-degree murder on Oct. 19, 2007 in a Surrey high-rise.

Hitmen from Bacon‘s Red Scorpion gang — Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston — were convicted of forcing their way into a penthouse apartment in the Balmoral Tower and executing Lal, his brother Michael and drug dealers Ryan Bartolomeo and Eddie Narong, as well as bystanders Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg. The hitmen were accompanied by a man who can only be identified as Person X, who earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Both Haevischer and Johnston appealed their 2014 first-degree murder and conspiracy convictions.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

I just confirmed Thursday that Jamie Bacon’s trial has been delayed for five months. Due to all the bans in place, as well as the in-camera pre-trial hearings, I don’t have reasons as to why the case has been postponed.

But by the time he goes to trial – if he goes to trial – it will be almost 10 years from the date of the shooting of his associate.

Here’s the update:

Homicide investigators are again seeking the public’s help to get information about the region’s latest murder.

Surrey resident Tarek Ali Al-Romeshi, 23, was found fatally wounded at a townhouse complex in the 8200-block of 204B Street about 9 p.m. Friday.

Cpl. Frank Jang, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said he was found inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“A short time after the report of shots fired, the Langley RCMP received a call of a burning vehicle a short distance away from the site of the shooting in the area of 206A Street and 84B Avenue,” he said. “Investigators have determined that the burnt vehicle was a 2009 white Nissan 370Z and would like to speak with anyone that has information about it.”

Car like the one linked to murder in Langley on Feb. 9, 2018

Jang said that investigators believe Al-Romeshi’s murder was targeted.

 “There are people who knew Mr. Al-Romeshi that may have information that could help us solve his murder.  I urge these individuals to come forward and speak with IHIT,” he said. 

Anyone with information is asked contact IHIT at 1-877-551- 4448 or ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.

I am away for a couple of days but wanted to put up a few details of Vancouver’s latest murder.

Vancouver Police confirmed late Thursday that a Surrey man shot near Marguerite Street and West 49th Avenue earlier in the day had died of his injuries.

Const. Jason Doucette said police received shots fired calls from the area just before 1 p.m.

“Officers located a man on the street suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He was rushed to hospital in critical condition and died hours later,” Doucette said.  “Based on the initial investigation, this was not a random shooting and no arrests have been made. The victim’s name is not being released at this time.”

The murder is Vancouver’s sixth of 2018.

Anyone with information is asked to call VPD major crime investigators at 604-717-2500.

Kevin LeClair had just left the Browns Socialhouse in Langley’s Thunderbird Mall on a cold Friday afternoon nine years ago.

He got into his pickup truck and began to drive off, when two gunmen started blasting him. Terrified shoppers ducked for cover. It was 4 p.m.

As the killers took off, people nearby ran to help LeClair, his foot jammed on the gas of the revving pickup in front of the IGA grocery store.

LeClair, a Red Scorpion gangster who was once aligned with the rival United Nations gang, died two days later in hospital.

And now a B.C. Supreme Court judge will decide whether alleged UN hitman Cory Vallee was one of LeClair’s killers that day.

Cory Vallee has also been charged with conspiracy to kill Jamie Bacon (pictured left, sitting next to Kevin LeClair in this handout photo).

The 41-year-old former North Vancouver garbage man is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to kill Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon and their Red Scorpion associates between Jan. 1, 2008, and Feb. 9, 2009.

RCMP handout photo of Cory Vallee.

The year-long trial before Justice Janice Dillon finally ended this week after a month of closing arguments. Dillon said that she would deliver her verdict on June 1.

Crown prosecutors argued there was plenty of evidence to convict Vallee on both counts, including police surveillance, intercepted calls and conversations of gang members talking about the Bacon plot and a hired “hitman” dubbed Frankie or Panther — nicknames Vallee used. And they said their key witnesses, ex-UN members who can only be called A, B, C and D due to a publication ban, should be believed despite their admitted criminal histories.

“The fact that these witnesses who were embedded in this world came here to testify and were willing to give that information about all their former colleagues and that it’s consistent among themselves has value to this court,” said prosecutor Alex Burton.

“They all testified about scouting or hunting the Bacons and the RS (Red Scorpions), of reporting known locations and addresses of the Bacons and the RS — such as residences, gyms, restaurants — about gathering and distributing photographs, the need to bring in someone specifically to reek havoc.”

Vallee defence lawyer Eric Gottardi said A, B, C and D blamed his client simply to “save their own skin” and that by co-operating they had “escaped punishment for murders.”

“The Crown’s evidence in this case falls markedly short of establishing that Cory Vallee was the person who shot and killed Kevin LeClair. It falls markedly short of establishing that Cory Vallee was an out-of-town hit man named Frankie. And it even fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Vallee was a full-fledged member of the UN or the conspiracy until after the indictment period, if at all,” Gottardi said.

HIGH-PROFILE COURT CASE SHOWS DEPTH OF BRUTALITY AND DESTRUCTION IN GANG WAR

Revelations at the trial showed the long trail of death and destruction in a bloody Lower Mainland gang war that began long before LeClair was hunted and shot.

Witnesses provided details of more than a dozen other shootings and murders between 2005 and 2010 that they said were part of the same conflict. 

Some were high-profile shootings, like the attempted execution of Jonathan Bacon in the driveway of his parents’ Abbotsford home on Sept. 21, 2006. He survived only to be killed in another targeted attack in August 2011.

Other murders disclosed at the Vallee trial had much less public attention, like the March 3, 2006, slaying of Bacon associate Dave Tumber outside an apartment building at Gladwin and Maclure in Abbotsford.

Many of the shootings led to violent retaliation, according to evidence of A, B, C and D.

And in most of the other attacks they recounted in court, no one has been charged, including for killings the UN arranged in Argentina and Mexico, where Vallee was arrested in August 2014 after three and a half years on the run.

Whatever the verdict is in this case, the decade-long police investigation has already yielded results.

In July 2013, five UN members and associates — Yong Sung John Lee, Dilun Heng, Barzan Tilli-Choli, Karwan Ahmet Saed and Ion Kroitoru — pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kill the Bacons and were handed sentences of between 11 and 14 years, minus time served. A year later, Amir Eghtesad also pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Two others connected to the gang are scheduled to go to trial next summer.

UN gang founder Clay Roueche has also been implicated in the murder plot but has never been charged. He was arrested on May 17, 2008, after his flight to Mexico for a UN wedding was diverted to the US, where he was facing charges and was arrested. He later pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering and was sentenced to 30 years.

Photo showing United Nations gang leader Clay Roueche being taken into custody in Texas on May 17, 2008. Roueche was turned away from Mexico and forced to land in the United States where he was arrested on drug charges.

BRAZEN SHOOTINGS BROUGHT GANG WAR TO PUBLIC ATTENTION

RCMP Asst. Commissioner Kevin Hackett, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Agency, was the team commander of the UN gang investigation when it started a decade ago.

Hackett said in an interview that he couldn’t comment specifically on details of the Vallee trial, given that the case is still before the courts.

But speaking generally, he said the gang war at the time reached unprecedented levels of violence across the region.

“You already know from the evidence in court that there was a conspiracy to go after the Red Scorpions and there were tit-for-tat retaliations and murders that were going on,” Hackett said this week.

“In 2008 and 2009, there was a definite spike and the frequency and retaliatory nature of the violence was unprecedented.”

He said the gangsters involved at that time were making “coordinated, determined efforts to go after their rivals.”

RCMP Asst. Commissioner Kevin Hackett of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Agency (right) was the team commander of the UN gang investigation when it started a decade ago.

Historically, organized crime in B.C. had been more discreet, targeting enemies in remote locations or sometimes simply making someone disappear. The public violence during the conflict was a disturbing evolution.

“The disregard for other citizens’ safety is what really brought this to the forefront,” Hackett said.

“When someone disappears or ends up murdered, especially someone innocent, that’s bad enough because a life has been taken. But the potential risk to the public when violence happens in public spaces is one of the key things that really motivates us to say we have to stop this.”

The Vallee trial heard about plans to drop an aerial bomb on the Bacons’ home or possibly get a rocket launcher to help with the killings. UN members drove around city streets in groups hunting their targets, guns loaded and ready.

Hackett remembers getting the call when LeClair was gunned down in the crowded shopping plaza parking lot just off the Trans-Canada Highway.

Homicide investigators worked closely with the anti-gang agency that Hackett now leads, as well as with their counterparts across the country and even internationally.

“That is another indication of the scope and some of the tentacles of this group and some of the groups in the Lower Mainland. It is not just localized. They operate across the country in other provinces and in other countries, which can add to the complexity of the investigation,” he said.

In the heyday of the UN, members wore gaudy gold jewelry and tacky T-shirts with their motto “honour, loyalty, respect” written in both English and Chinese characters. In reality, there was no loyalty.

The UN grew so paranoid about potential turncoats that gang leaders arranged the murders of their own friends in both Mexico and Argentina, the former gangsters said.

Jesse “Egon” Adkins was a suspect in both the LeClair hit and the Vancouver murder of Raj Soomel on Sept. 29, 2009. Soomel was mistakenly shot as the gang hunted for Independent Soldiers founder Randy Naicker after taking a contract to kill three people for the late Gurmit Dhak.

Shooting victim Raj Soomel lies in the middle of Cambie Street at 19th Avenue in Vancouver in this photo from Sept. 30, 2009.

Ex-UN gangster C testified that after the Soomel slaying, Adkins and Vallee were smuggled into Mexico through a Los Angeles cartel contact of Khamla Wong, a respected UN gang elder now in prison in Thailand.

But after several months, Adkins was getting edgy, talking about returning to B.C. and making derogatory comments about the UN — something that alarmed C, he said.

Worried that Adkins might flip on the gang, C confided in Wong.

“Kham discussed it with the Mexicans that Jesse might be a problem and the Mexicans said that they’re going to take care of it,” C said.

He said he later learned from both Wong and Vallee that Adkins was “killed in Mexico by the Mexican cartel people.” Adkins’ body was never found.

UN gang member Jesse “Egon” Adkins, shown here in an undated photograph, disappeared in Mexico in 2010.

It wasn’t the only time C was in on the murder of a friend.

Adam Naname (Nam) Kataoka was a UN associate who had “a mental breakdown” and began to rob people close to the gang.

C testified that a decision was made to send his pal Kataoka to Argentina in 2009, purportedly to work as a drug tester. But the real plan was to have him killed.

The UN got the hit done in Argentina “so that the heat and the problems wouldn’t be affecting us in Vancouver,” C said.

Kataoka was found on Oct. 28, 2009, in a Buenos Aires parking lot lying face down, wearing latex gloves, with bullet wounds in his head, stomach and leg.

The ex-gangster witnesses testified about at least 10 murders and five attempted murders where no suspect has yet been charged.

Hackett said that police often know who the suspects are in gangland slayings, even when they don’t have enough evidence for charges to be approved.

“It comes down to the strength of the case, the viability of getting witnesses to testify in trials and sometimes you have to go with the ones that have the best chance of success,” he said.

“In many of these cases, we know the suspects or accused are responsible for several offences,  so if they are found guilty on one or two that can be a success.”

And, he said, investigators don’t give up even when cases go on for years.

More than 500 officers have worked on the UN investigation. More than one million pages of evidence were prepared and disclosed in the case.

“We are happy with the investigation to date. Like in any investigation, we don’t stop until we’ve done everything that we can to hold those responsible to account,” Hackett said.

That means continuing the hunt for Conor D’Monte, who is also charged in the conspiracy to kill the Bacons and in LeClair’s murder. He is believed to have fled Canada in 2011 around the time that he was charged.

“I think that is another important message. We don’t give up,” Hackett said. “As much as there are new files that need investigation, we are committed to following through with the ones that we’ve started because you owe that to the public and to the victims’ families.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

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Timeline of UN-Red Scorpion war violence referenced at Cory Vallee trial 

Aug. 28, 2005 — Hartinder (Harry) Gill and his girlfriend Lexi Madsen shot to death in Abbotsford as they sat in a car in a parking lot on College Drive about 9:30 p.m. Former UN witness “A” said he drove a “blocker” car and that others in his gang opened fire on Gill and Madsen.

March 3, 2006 — Bacon associate Charndev (Dave) Tumber, 30, was killed in a shooting as he sat inside a vehicle about 11 p.m. at an apartment building at Gladwin Road and Maclure Road in Abbotsford.

Sept. 21, 2006 — Jonathan Bacon was seriously injured in a shooting in the driveway of his parents’ Abbotsford home in the 35400-block of Strathcona Court at about 8 p.m.

Sept. 22, 2006 — Just five hours after Bacon was shot, UN gangster Ciaran “Q” D’Monte was wounded in a shooting outside a Chilliwack nightclub. Bacon associate Clayton Eheler was one of two men charged and later acquitted. Former UN gangster D testified that D’Monte’s brother and UN leader Conor D’Monte was also there when “an individual had followed them into the parking lot and produced a firearm and fired shots in their direction and hit his brother Q in the abdominal area.”

February 2007 — Chilliwack resident and Bacon pal Clayton Eheler was shot near his house as he drove with a woman and a child. He survived.

May 8, 2008 — Popular UN gang member Duane Meyer was shot outside an Abbotsford house where his children were staying. Ex-UN members testified they were surprised at the hit by the Red Scorpions as it showed sophistication and an ability to do surveillance on targets

May 9, 2008 — Stereo installer Jonathan Barber was shot to death in Burnaby after being mistaken for a Bacon brother as he drove their Porsche Cayenne. His girlfriend was seriously injured.

Nov. 7, 2008 — Ex-UN gangster C testified that another UN member took out a hit on a North Vancouver man named Kenn Buxton, who was shot but survived.

Feb. 6, 2009 — Red Scorpion Kevin LeClair, a former UN man dubbed Traitor by his old gang, was fatally wounded in a targeted afternoon shooting after leaving a pub in a busy Langley plaza. He died two days later in hospital.

March 3, 2009 — Five UN members and associates are arrested and charged with conspiracy to kill the Bacon brothers. But the violence continued.

March 30, 2009 — Ryan Richards and Sean Murphy, young traffickers who had been on the Bacon side but wanted to move over to the UN, were killed and dumped hours apart in Abbotsford. Ex-UN gangster D testified he believed his gang had killed them.

The body of a young trafficker slain during the UN/Red Scorpion conflict in an Abbotsford field on March 31, 2009.

Sept. 27, 2009 — Teddy Kim, shot and wounded, in Burnaby. Witness B admitted to luring Kim to a meeting where he was then targeted by gunfire.

Sept. 29, 2009 — Attempted hit on Independent Soldiers founder Randy Naicker resulted in mistaken slaying of Raj Soomel, another resident of a Vancouver halfway house. Naicker was later shot to death in Burnaby

Oct. 14, 2009 — Former UN gangster B couldn’t recall the name on the third hit Gurmit Dhak contracted the UN to do, but it was likely Jonathan “Mad Dog” Chang, of the Wolf Pack alliance, who was shot to death inside a Mercedes SUV in a back-alley parking lot in the 7700-block Edmonds Street about 4:30 p.m. outside an MMA gym.

Police barricade an area around the 7000 block of Edmonds St. near Canada Way in Burnaby after a shooting on Oct. 14, 2009, that left gangster Jonathan “Mad Dog” Chang dead.

Oct. 28, 2009 — Ex-UN gangster C testified that the UN arranged to kill his close friend and gang associate Adam Naname “Nam” Kataoka by sending him to Argentina under the guise of working as a drug tester. Kataoka was found in a Buenos Aires parking lot lying face down, wearing latex gloves, with bullet wounds in his head, stomach and leg.

Late 2009 or early 2010 — C testified that he was worried Jesse “Egon” Adkins, who had fled to Mexico with Cory Vallee in the fall of 2009 was going to rat on the gang. So C told senior UN member Khamla Wong who arranged for a cartel contact to kill Adkins. His body was never found.

Homicide investigators are on the scene of another murder – this time in Coquitlam. 

Coquitlam RCMP received several calls of shots fired in the area of Sylvan Place and Riverview Crescent about 10 p.m. Friday. A vehicle was seen speeding away.  

“When officers arrived, they found a man with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle.  The male victim was transported to hospital but succumbed to his injuries,” Cpl. Frank Jang, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said in a news release Saturyda.

He said shortly after the shooting, police learned of a burning dark-colored sedan a short distance away in the area of Mariner Way and Dartmoor Drive. 

One person is dead after a shooting in Coquitlam Friday night. Fire crews also responded to a car on fire. The vehicle is believed to be linked to the incident. (Photo: Shane MacKichan)

“It is still early in the investigation but this appears to be a targeted incident,” Jang said.  “We need those who have information about this incident to please come forward.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact IHIT at 1-877-551- 4448 or ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.

The murder came a day after Surrey realtor Kam Rai was shot to death in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood.

Rai has a number of friends on his Facebook page that are linked to both the Red Scorpions and the Hells Angels. 

The B.C. government expects to introduce new legislation this session to help tackle gun and gang violence, Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth said Monday.

Farnworth said he couldn’t disclose details of the anticipated legislation, but indicated it was in response to discussions with B.C. law-enforcement agencies.

“I am expecting to be tabling some additional legislation that will assist police,” said Farnworth.

He also declined to say if Tuesday’s budget would have new resources to battle the escalating gun and gang violence on top of new funding announced last fall.

Already this year, police across the Lower Mainland are dealing with 12 murders, up from nine at this point a year ago.

Most of them have been targeted, gun-related homicides like the two most recent last Thursday and Friday in Vancouver and Coquitlam. And some have involved innocent bystanders like the still-unsolved murder of teen Albert Wong.

The killings are on top of drive-by shootings that continue across the region.

“It is just disgusting and it is just unacceptable this level of violence that is taking place. People deserve to be safe,” Farnworth said.

The latest drive-by shooting around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday in the 3800-block Ulster Street is in Farnworth’s riding. No one was hurt in the shooting, which left bullet holes in the home’s garage door and shattered the rear windshields of two parked vehicles.

Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said he wanted to reassure area residents “that we are working hard to solve the crime that happened near their homes.”

Police believe the shooting was targeted and said the house is known to them.

“If you saw anything that could help the RCMP investigation, or if you have video, please call our non-emergency number at 604-945-1550 and ask for the investigative support team,” McLaughlin said.

Also, Monday, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team released the identity of a man shot to death in Coquitlam on Friday about 10 p.m. near Sylvan Place and Riverview Crescent. Cpl. Frank Jang said the victim of the targeted attack is Donald Robert Kelly, a 45-year-old Burnaby resident, who was found wounded in his vehicle and died later in hospital.

Shortly after the shots-fired calls came in, police were notified of a burning sedan a short distance away at Mariner Way near Dartmoor Drive. Investigators have now determined that the torched vehicle was a 2018 grey Chrysler 300 and would like to speak with anyone with information about it. Jang said that so far “there is no evidence to link Mr. Kelly’s death to other recent homicides or reported acts of violence.”

“There are people who have information about what happened. I urge these individuals to come forward and speak with IHIT so that we can hold those responsible to account,” he said.

Kelly had no criminal charges or convictions in the online court database. Someone with the same name recently had an arrest warrant issued after failing to appear in court for “a payment hearing” related to unpaid rent for a Burnaby property.

Kelly’s murder came a day after Surrey realtor Kaminder Rai, 32, was shot to death in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood. Rai has no criminal history, but does have a number of friends on his Facebook page that are linked to both the Red Scorpions gang and the Hells Angels.

Vancouver police said the Rai murder — the city’s sixth of 2018 — was also targeted.

“As you can imagine, all of these investigations are very active,” VPD Const. Jason Doucette said Monday. “We have a close relationship with other police forces, locally and nationally, and we continue to share information that could help to identify those responsible.”

He urged anyone with information on any of the slayings to contact investigators.

“It’s important for everyone to remember that it’s never too late to call the police,” he said.

The VPD reported last week that the overall crime rate was down 1.5 per cent in 2017 over 2016. But murders were up to 19 last year from 12 in 2016. And shots-fired incidents increased to 31 in 2017 from 26 the previous year.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

– With files from Stephanie Ip

Related

• Man killed in Kerrisdale shooting identified as Surrey realtor
• One man dead in targeted Coquitlam shooting Friday night

Murder victim Donald Kelly was killed in Coquitlam. 

Police investigate the scene of a drive-by shooting in the 3800-block Ulster Street in Port Coquitlam on Feb. 19. The incident happened at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. No one was hurt and the victims are known to cops.

A Surrey businessman convicted in a 1986 terrorist shooting in B.C. posed with  Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and a Canadian cabinet minister during the prime minister’s trip to India.

 Jaspal Atwal, a one-time member of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation, had also been invited to a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Canadian High Commission in Delhi on Thursday night.

But Atwal told Postmedia that he does not plan to attend the dinner as he is in Mumbai on business.

Atwal said in a series of text messages Wednesday that he was in India for Media Waves, a Surrey online radio station. He referred Postmedia to a representative of the radio station who did not return phone calls.

A photo is making the rounds of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire, at a function in India in recent days where she was snapped next to Jaspal Atwal, a Surrey businessman, who is a one-time member of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation with a conviction for a 1986 terror-related shooting in B.C. Atwal was also invited to dinner with the prime minister by Canada’s High Commission in Delhi, in an apparent failure to vet the guest list. Trudeau has been pushing back against allegations, while in India, that Canada is soft on attempts to break up India.

Atwal also suggested it was unfair to raise his criminal conviction for shooting a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister on Vancouver Island in 1986 given how long ago the crime occurred.

He blamed enemies for circulating the photos obtained by Postmedia and stressed that he travelled to India on his own on Feb. 11 and is not part of any official government delegation.

The pictures of him and Gregoire Trudeau, as well as Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, were taken at an event in Mumbai, Atwal said.

Sources confirmed late Wednesday that Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai submitted Atwal’s name to receive the dinner invitation. 

Jaspal Atwal (left) with Liberal MPs Randeep Sarai and Sukh Dhaliwal in October 2015 photo

At the time of the 1986 shooting, Atwal was a Sikh separatist active in the pro-Khalistan International Sikh Youth Federation. He and three others were convicted in 1987 of trying to kill Malkiat Singh Sidhu on an isolated road near Gold River. The Punjab cabinet minister was visiting B.C. for his nephew’s wedding.

Sidhu was struck twice and survived the attempt on his life, but was later assassinated in India. The trial judge called the attack “an act of terrorism” and sentenced Atwal and the others to 20 years. Atwal later admitted to the parole board that he was the shooter that day.

Some Indian officials, including Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, have been critical of the Canadian government and Trudeau for being soft on Khalistan supporters living in Canada. Singh met Wednesday with Trudeau and Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.

After the meeting, Trudeau expressed Canada’s support for a united India and Singh posted on his Facebook page that he “was happy to receive categorical assurance from (Trudeau) that his country does not support any separatist movement.”

“His words are a big relief to all of us here in India and we look forward to his government’s support in tackling fringe separatist elements,” Singh said.

Nobody from the Canadian government responded to requests for information Wednesday about how someone with Atwal’s criminal and Sikh separatist history could be cleared to attend official events in India. 

Former Liberal cabinet minister and B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh said Ottawa should have done its due diligence in looking into Atwal’s history especially when Indian Prime Minister Narender Modi had already spoken to Trudeau about his concerns over Canadian Khalistanis.

“They still didn’t vet everybody properly and they allowed a former violent Khalistani access to the delegation,” Dosanjh said. “With that level of awareness, this happening is an indication that they weren’t all that careful.”

Dosanjh said he has no idea whether Atwal is still supportive of the Khalistan movement. “For all I know he may be a totally reformed man, but I don’t think that is the issue,” he said.

Atwal was charged, but acquitted, of the February 1985 attack that left Dosanjh severely injured.

In 2010, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that Atwal was part of an auto-fraud ring that had ripped off ICBC off by falsely reporting vehicles stolen, then completing fake Alberta registration documents on the vehicles, changing the vehicle identification numbers and selling them to unwitting buyers.

Atwal was a car salesman at the time and had assisted with the conversion of one of the stolen vehicles, the judge found. He appealed the ruling, but lost in 2012.

Atwal has also been active in Canadian politics at both the provincial and federal level in recent years. 

In 2012, he was invited to the swearing in of former Liberal premier Christy Clark, something that led to a complaint to the B.C. speaker. Clark’s office said Atwal was a last-minute replacement for someone else on the list and should not have been invited.

And Postmedia reported in 2012 that Atwal was also active in his federal Liberal riding association executive as a member at large.

Canada’s spy agency was provided information by a concerned citizen last week about the optics of convicted gunman Jaspal Atwal attending events with the prime minister in India, Postmedia has learned.

The tipster, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, confirmed speaking to an agent from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on Feb. 17, hoping to alert the Canadian government to Atwal’s criminal history.

The person said to the CSIS agent that “this is an embarrassment for the prime minister and (CSIS) should send a note to the prime minister’s office. And they sent a note.”

CSIS did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

A separate source told Postmedia that some members of the Punjabi-language media in Surrey sent news reports about Atwal’s history to the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi on Feb. 20.

The source said it was widely known that Atwal, a former member of the terrorist International Sikh Youth Federation, was going to India to attend some of the events with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian delegation.

Despite the warnings, Atwal attended a reception on Feb. 21 in Mumbai where he was photographed with Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi.

Atwal also received a formal invitation to attend a dinner with the Trudeaus at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi on Thursday night. But that was rescinded after Postmedia and the CBC broke the story Wednesday of Atwal’s history.

The outcome embarrassed Trudeau, who had taken efforts in India to insist Canada is not soft on Sikh separatism and believes in a united India.

Jaspal Atwal, a Surrey businessman and a one-time member of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation, with Surrey Centre Liberal MP Randeep Sarai. Sarai took the blame Thursday for getting Atwal an invitation to a dinner being given by Trudeau in India. The photo was posted to the Facebook site of Surrey’s New Wave Communications after the 2015 election.

The Surrey man was convicted of attempted murder for the 1986 shooting of a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister on Vancouver Island. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His target, Malkiat Singh Sidhu, survived the B.C. attack but was later assassinated in India.

Atwal was charged and acquitted in the vicious beating of Ujjal Dosanjh, later a B.C. premier, in Vancouver in February 1985.

After the controversy erupted Wednesday, Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai issued a statement saying he “alone” was responsible for getting Atwal access to the events in India. “I should have exercised better judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions,” Sarai said.

Trudeau also acknowledged the error, saying Atwal “never should have received an invitation and as soon as we found out we rescinded the invitation immediately.”

Atwal told Postmedia Wednesday that he was in India as a representative of a Surrey radio station called Media Waves Communications. 

But station owner Ashiana Khan said Thursday that Atwal has nothing to do with the station and is not in India on behalf of Media Waves.

“He is quite active with the community, as well as with the political party. So being with the media, he’s been in touch. I have known him for awhile,” Khan said. “Before the federal election … he was associated by bringing guests over, connecting with them and asking me if I could have the guests and all those sorts of things. But he never worked for Media Waves.”

Atwal appears in a photo with Sarai and Surrey-Newton MP Sukh Dhaliwal posted on the Media Waves Facebook page on Oct. 20, 2015 — the day after the Liberals swept the federal election.

“Proud of both Liberal candidates, MP Randeep Sarai and Sukh Dhaliwal. Media Waves will work closely with both candidates to bring changes to Surrey,” the comment under the photo says.

The Surrey station’s support for the Liberals prompted complaints from both the NDP and Conservatives to Elections Canada.

The Conservative complaint includes photos of Atwal and the Liberal MPs that were posted on Media Waves social media sites, former Conservative MP and lawyer Kerry-Lynne Findlay said, along with details of Atwal’s criminal conviction.

Findlay confirmed Thursday that she filed a complaint with Elections Canada alleging improper “third party election advertising” for the Liberals on Media Waves.

Findlay lost her Delta-Richmond East seat to Liberal Carla Qualtrough, who Findlay alleges was the beneficiary of hours of supportive broadcasting on Media Waves on election day.

“Media Waves broadcast throughout the day for approximately 11 to 12 hours that Ms. Qualtrough was its preferred candidate and urged Delta residents to vote for her. Media Waves directed its listeners to go to its campaign officers to go to her office if they needed a ride to the polls,” the complaint states.

Findlay said the station also urged listeners to support other Liberal candidates.

She said Elections Canada came to B.C. about a year ago to investigate the complaint, but that no ruling has been issued.

NDP MLA Jinny Sims, who also lost in the 2015 federal election, said she understands her party also filed a complaint in Ottawa related to Media Waves election coverage.

Conservative candidate Harpreet Singh, who lost in Surrey-Newton in 2015 and was also interviewed in connection with the complaint against Media Waves, said the controversy over Atwal being at government functions in India is unfortunate.

“They should do more verification because it embarrasses the government,” he said. “Of course, the government should be more vigilant when inviting people to such events.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

A founding member of the Nanaimo Hells Angel has lost an appeal of the five-year sentence he was handed in 2015 after being convicted of extortion.

Robert “Fred” Widdifield had argued to the B.C. Court of Appeal that his sentence was “demonstrably harsh, excessive and unfit” sentence and should not have included $120,000 in restitution.

Widdifield said that B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin Baird, who convicted him in 2014 and sentenced him in April 2015, didn’t take into account mitigating factors, such as “his departure from the Hells Angels.”

Baird said in his verdict in the case that Widdifield was part of the plot to strong-arm his former business partner and close friend into handing over money and property, including a yacht called Dream Chaser, over an unpaid loan the man had gotten years earlier from a third party.

The longtime pal, whose name is covered by a publication ban, went to police in 2010 after being repeatedly threatened by another Nanaimo Hells Angel named Rajinder Sandhu.

The man’s problems with the bikers stemmed back to an unpaid 1993 loan for $62,000 that he had gotten from a Nanaimo woman who later moved away without providing any forwarding address.

For years, he heard nothing about the debt until Sandhu came knocking on his door in early 2010.

Sandhu told the man that he would have to repay the loan, as well as “a ‘stupid tax’ for his alleged unauthorized use of the club’s name and reputation.”

Sandhu also said that he was acting on behalf of the Hells Angel and demanded an immediate payment of $100,000. He warned the man about having used Widdifield’s name without authorization.

After months of meetings and text messages, the man was forced to turn over his yacht, which he had purchased for $137,000.

Widdifield was with Sandhu during the sale of the boat. And Widdifield later hosted a meeting at his house during which the man was assaulted and ordered to pay even more money.

Widdifield said the trial judge should not have given him a longer sentence than that given to Sandhu or two other men convicted in the case. And he said Justice Robin Baird was wrong to conclude Widdifield was the leader of the plot

But Appeal Court Justice Gail Dickson rejected that argument.

“Sentencing judges are entitled to view the actions of one offender as qualitatively different than the actions of others engaged in the same common criminal enterprise,” she said in a ruling released earlier this week.

“It was reasonable for him to take into account the benefit Mr. Widdifield received and his role as the driving and superintending authority behind the extortion when crafting his relatively high sentence.  Among other distinguishing features, Mr. Widdifield’s leadership role differed significantly from the roles of the other participants.

She said Baird also “was alive to the fact that Mr. Widdifield retired from the club after the period covered by the indictment.”

Widdifield also tried to introduce new evidence at his appeal, something the Dickson also rejected.

The evidence consisted of an affidavit about his deteriorating health and “the negative impact of the proceedings on his family and his finances.”

Dickson said that some of Widdifield’s “assertions are uncorroborated or seemingly inconsistent with information provided to Justice Baird at the sentencing hearing.”

Justices Barbara Fisher and Richard Goepel agreed.

Widdifield earlier lost an appeal of his conviction.

NOTE: I have been off-blog for a couple of days, working on political stories related to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to India, which I have not posted on the blog since they are not part of my current beat.

Convicted B.C. gunman Jaspal Atwal claimed in 2010 that the Sikh community was proud of his 1986 assassination attempt on a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister and paid his legal bills as a result.

Atwal, who posed with the Canadian prime minister’s wife in India last week, made the comments during testimony in a civil case he filed contesting the will of his late father Gurdev.

At the time, Atwal was refuting claims by his sister-in-law Sukhraj and mother Pritam that he was disinherited in part because he never repaid his father a $65,000 loan to cover the legal fees in his attempted murder case.

“Jaspal testified that his legal bills were paid for by the Sikh community which was proud of his attempt to kill the Indian cabinet minister following the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries noted in her judgment against Atwal.

His mother Pritam, who testified against her eldest son, said the community reaction to the shooting of Malkiat Singh Sidhu was just the opposite.

“It was suggested to Pritam in cross-examination that Jaspal was a hero in the Sikh community for his attempted assassination of the Indian cabinet minister. On the contrary, she said they were cursed in the community. The community told them they would not pay for Jaspal’s defence,” Humphries said.

Controversy erupted last week when Postmedia and the CBC revealed that Atwal had been invited to a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in New Delhi after attending another Canadian government event in Mumbai earlier in the week.

At the Mumbai event, he was photographed with Trudeau’s wife Sophie Gregoire and Infrastructure Minister Amarjit Sohi.

Trudeau did not attend question period Monday, but Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was grilled about the Atwal affair.

He did not answer specific opposition questions beyond saying: “I cannot discuss security details on the floor of the house” and that security agencies had done a good job.

Atwal and three others were members of the now-banned International Sikh Youth Federation when they tried to kill Sidhu near Gold River. He was visiting B.C. for his nephew’s wedding. The four would-be killers were sentenced to 20 years in prison for what the judge described as “an act of terrorism.”

Atwal, meanwhile, was not returning calls or texts Monday after telling Canadian Press over the weekend that he was reformed and had rejected his Sikh separatist views.

But in his 2010 testimony, he didn’t express remorse and testified that his father had been proud of his son’s crime — something the judge rejected.

“As for the factors of poor character, misconduct, neglect, and estrangement, I accept the evidence that Jaspal has shamed and embarrassed the family through his conviction for attempted murder, and by being involved in lawsuits against the family that caused his family, including his father, much distress,” Humphries said.

“Regardless of whether Jaspal says his father was proud of his attempt to assassinate the Indian cabinet minister, which I think unlikely, this court should not countenance such a position, having reference to the contemporary sense of legal and moral norms.”

She noted that Atwal was not welcome in his parents home after he sued his parents over some property upon his release from prison.

“The assassination attempt affected Gurdev only indirectly — through the effect on the family’s reputation and through the need to give Jaspal money for legal fees. However, as both Pritam and Sukhraj testified, it was the litigation with Jaspal that caused the rift between him and the family, including Gurdev,” Humphries said.

“I accept the evidence of Pritam and Sukhraj that Jaspal saw little of them for many years, and the daily care and comfort of Pritam and Gurdev was overseen by Sukhraj.”

Atwal’s father died in 1999, but the civil case took years to get to trial.

In his 2010 testimony, Jaspal said that he immigrated to Canada in the early 1970s and brought his parents over soon after, while he was working at a sawmill in Fort St. James. 

Both Gurdev and his wife left everything to their daughter-in-law in separate wills, which Humphries found were valid.

He now lives in Surrey and claimed to Postmedia last week to work for a Punjabi radio station. But the station owner later denied he was employed there.

kbolan@postmedia.com

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— 

Convicted cocaine trafficker Jarrod Bacon has won an appeal of his 2017 parole revocation by arguing that he never should have been released in the first place.

The lawyer for the middle gangster brother argued that the Parole Board of Canada had miscalculated Bacon’s statutory release date, letting him out 16 months too early.

Most federal prisoners get statutory release after serving two-thirds of their sentence.  

Bacon got out in February 2017, and was ordered to live in a halfway house, not associate with criminals, and stay out of drinking establishments.

Then last September, the parole board revoked his parole for violating those conditions after he was caught drinking in a strip club with another known criminal and then providing police with a false identity.

But he went to he parole board’s appeal division and won his argument about being let out too early, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

Parole board members Howard Bruce and Steven Dubreuil said in the Feb. 21 ruling that the board had no jurisdiction to revoke the parole, given that Bacon had been released too soon.

“You state that your file information indicated that you were serving a sentence of seven year and two months and that your sentence was actually nine years and two months,” the board members noted in their ruling. “You thus argue that you should not have been in the community on statutory release as your eligibility date was not Feb. 11, 2017, but rather June 14, 2018, and by extension that you should not have been revoked by the board.”

They continued by saying that in Bacon’s case “the board did not have the jurisdiction to review your conduct while on statutory release.”

The pair set aside the ruling from September.

A board representative did not respond to a request for additional information about whether Bacon will remain in jail until June.

Bacon, now 34, was convicted in 2012 of conspiracy to traffic cocaine after being caught in a sting by undercover police. He was originally sentenced to 12 years, minus time served, but that was increased to 14 years on appeal. 

When Bacon was released last year, he objected to being forced to live in a halfway house. He claimed his life would be in danger if he was in a facility known to others in the criminal underworld. The parole board described Bacon as a member of the Red Scorpion gang with “considerable influence on the gang environment in British Columbia.”

His brother Jonathan was gunned down in Kelowna in August 2011. Three men from a rival gang are currently on trial for the murder. And his other brother Jamie remains in pre-trial custody charged with counselling the murder of a former associate in December 2008. Jamie Bacon had been charged in connection with the Surrey Six murders in October 2007, but those charges were stayed by a judge last December. The Crown is appealing that ruling.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

I have to say that the Jarrod Bacon parole appeal documents I got today were among the most unique I have encountered. He successfully argued that the parole board had no right to revoke his parole last fall for being drunk in a strip club with a criminal, because they made a mistake when they gave him stat release last year.

Jarrod Bacon leaves Surrey Provincial Court after the hearing of his brother Jamie Bacon.

Here’s the story:

A high-profile B.C gangster has been sentenced to life in prison in the Philippines for his involvement in an international drug-trafficking ring that set up in the Southeast Asian country.

Independent Soldier James Riach, who is part of the Wolf Pack gang alliance, got the news in a Manila courtroom Wednesday, along with his Canadian co-accused Ali Shirazi.

Judge Selma Alaras issued an 11-page ruling, saying both Riach and Shirazi had possessed more than $2.5 million Cdn worth of ecstasy and shabu — a local pill that contains methamphetamine and caffeine.

The Canadians were also ordered to pay a $12,000 fine.

The Philippines National Bureau of Investigation arrested Riach and Shirazi at their rented Manila condo in January 2014. They had been in the country for about three months.

Also arrested at another apartment and charged that day was Riach’s long-time B.C. associate Barry Espadilla. But Espadilla was released 18 months later after an appeals court judge accepted his lawyer’s argument that police lied to get search warrants in the case.

He has since returned to Canada.

Riach had been on bail in the Philippines — even getting married there a couple of years ago — before being taken into custody again this week.

B.C.’s anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit got news of the guilty verdict and sentence shortly after it happened, Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said Wednesday.

She said the lengthy sentence should be a warning to other B.C. gangsters who think they can get into the drug trade abroad.

“While we cannot speak to the court decisions in another country, there is no doubt that the life sentence that was handed down is significant and will undoubtedly send a message to people from B.C. and Canada, that drug trafficking in other countries may, if you’re convicted, come with a serious penalty, including imprisonment for life,” Winpenny said. “In the case of Mr. Riach and Mr. Shirazi, we will continue to watch to see if there are further court proceedings or if this is the end.”

Global Affairs Canada official Philip Hannan said he couldn’t comment on whether any consular services have been given to the Canadians because he had not yet had the chance to liaise with “mission staff.”

According to the Canadian government’s website, there is no Offender Transfer Treaty between Canada and the Philippines. When such treaties exist, Canadians imprisoned abroad can apply to serve all or part of their sentence in Canada closer to their families.

Riach’s friend Chris Seymour said that he plans to campaign to get the B.C. man returned to Canada. 

“I sure hope that the government will step in now and do something for him. He didn’t run on his bail or anything. This is not right and would never have stood up in any kind of (Canadian) court,” Seymour said Wednesday, noting human rights abuses in the Philippines. “How could this happen to a Canadian citizen? I am totally sick to my stomach over this.”

He suggested Riach might be getting especially harsh treatment because of the extreme positions of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has encouraged the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug offenders.

Riach, 36, has a criminal history in Canada. He was convicted in 2010 of possession and careless storage of a loaded .45-calibre semiautomatic Glock pistol found under his mattress in is luxury Yaletown condo.

But he was acquitted of more serious gun charges after an arsenal of weapons was found in the apartment.

Riach was also in a vehicle with Red Scorpion gangster Jonathan Bacon and Hells Angel Larry Amero when it was sprayed by gunfire in Kelowna in August 2011. Bacon was killed and Amero was seriously injured. Two women in the car also sustained injuries.

Three men linked to the United Nations gang are currently on trial in Kelowna for the murder.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

There was pretty big news out of Manila overnight. James Riach was convicted and sentenced for his role in a drug trafficking organization. At the time of his 2014 arrest there, police said the drug ring was linked to a Mexican cartel. Riach  has been an Independent Soldier and involved in the Wolf Pack gang coalition. More recently he is believed to have joined the Hells Angels and in fact is on Instagram as Loonie81 – his nickname plus the numbers associated to HA for Hells Angels.

Here’s my story:

A high-profile B.C gangster has been sentenced to life in prison in the Philippines for his involvement in an international drug-trafficking ring that set up in the Southeast Asian country.

Independent Soldier James Riach, who is part of the Wolf Pack gang alliance, got the news in a Manila courtroom Wednesday, along with his Canadian co-accused Ali Shirazi.

Judge Selma Alaras issued an 11-page ruling, saying both Riach and Shirazi had possessed more than $2.5 million Cdn worth of ecstasy and shabu — a local pill that contains methamphetamine and caffeine.

The Canadians were also ordered to pay a $12,000 fine.

The Philippines National Bureau of Investigation arrested Riach and Shirazi at their rented Manila condo in January 2014. They had been in the country for about three months.

Also arrested at another apartment and charged that day was Riach’s long-time B.C. associate Barry Espadilla. But Espadilla was released 18 months later after an appeals court judge accepted his lawyer’s argument that police lied to get search warrants in the case.

He has since returned to Canada.

Riach had been on bail in the Philippines — even getting married there a couple of years ago — before being taken into custody again this week.

Ali Shirazi and James Riach before 2014 court appearance in Manila.

B.C.’s anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit got news of the guilty verdict and sentence shortly after it happened, Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said Wednesday.

She said the lengthy sentence should be a warning to other B.C. gangsters who think they can get into the drug trade abroad.

“While we cannot speak to the court decisions in another country, there is no doubt that the life sentence that was handed down is significant and will undoubtedly send a message to people from B.C. and Canada, that drug trafficking in other countries may, if you’re convicted, come with a serious penalty, including imprisonment for life,” Winpenny said. “In the case of Mr. Riach and Mr. Shirazi, we will continue to watch to see if there are further court proceedings or if this is the end.”

IS clothing seized by police in Kelowna

Global Affairs Canada official Philip Hannan said he couldn’t comment on whether any consular services have been given to the Canadians because he had not yet had the chance to liaise with “mission staff.”

According to the Canadian government’s website, there is no Offender Transfer Treaty between Canada and the Philippines. When such treaties exist, Canadians imprisoned abroad can apply to serve all or part of their sentence in Canada closer to their families.

Riach’s friend Chris Seymour said that he plans to campaign to get the B.C. man returned to Canada. 

“I sure hope that the government will step in now and do something for him. He didn’t run on his bail or anything. This is not right and would never have stood up in any kind of (Canadian) court,” Seymour said Wednesday, noting human rights abuses in the Philippines. “How could this happen to a Canadian citizen? I am totally sick to my stomach over this.”

He suggested Riach might be getting especially harsh treatment because of the extreme positions of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has encouraged the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug offenders.

Riach, 36, has a criminal history in Canada. He was convicted in 2010 of possession and careless storage of a loaded .45-calibre semiautomatic Glock pistol found under his mattress in is luxury Yaletown condo.

But he was acquitted of more serious gun charges after an arsenal of weapons was found in the apartment.

Riach was also in a vehicle with Red Scorpion gangster Jonathan Bacon and Hells Angel Larry Amero when it was sprayed by gunfire in Kelowna in August 2011. Bacon was killed and Amero was seriously injured. Two women in the car also sustained injuries.

Three men linked to the United Nations gang are currently on trial in Kelowna for the murder.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

 

A chance encounter in an Istanbul café with a mysterious man named Mike has landed a Slovakian woman in a B.C. prison for three years.

Iveta Scheuer, 50, has been convicted of smuggling 2.6 kilos of opium into Canada in late 2016, hidden in the sides of two suitcases.

When the opium was discovered by airport officials, Scheuer claimed she had no idea what she’d been carrying. She also gave two different versions of how and why she had come to B.C.

She later testified in her own defence in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming that mystery man Mike “paid for her trip to Vancouver, gave her the suitcases, and asked her to deliver them to an unnamed individual at a hotel here,” Justice Lisa Warren wrote in a sentencing decision released this week.

“She testified that Mike told her she would be contacted by someone once she got to the hotel and this person would come to the hotel to collect the suitcases.  She had an empty bag packed in the suitcases that was to be used to transport her belongings back home, after leaving the two suitcases here.  She testified that she did not know the opium was in the suitcases.”

A jury didn’t believe Scheuer, convicting her of importation of the opium, as well as possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Scheuer told the court that Mike was Arabic and spoke German. He appeared to be in his late 30s.  He took her sightseeing.  

She gave him her phone number but he did not give her his number or provide details of his business. After she returned to Germany, he contacted her and invited her to visit him in Frankfurt. She did.

“Sometime after that he invited her to Istanbul and during that trip, on his suggestion, they then made a trip to Tokyo,” Warren said.

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There were other trips to Ankara and Tokyo.

“She testified that Mike paid most of the costs associated with these trips, that he gave her pocket money and bought her things, but that he had never before asked her to take anything with her.”

After the second trip to Japan, Mike called her again and suggested she go to Vancouver, the ruling said.

“She testified that he arranged for money to be given to her in Germany for her to purchase tickets to travel first to Istanbul and then to Vancouver.”

 She flew to Istanbul on Nov. 23, 2016, then travelled on to Vancouver four days later.

She said she asked Mike what was in the suitcases and he replied:

“You don’t need to know — it’s not a bad thing.”

She testified that Mike told her he would pay her 3,000 euros when she got back from Vancouver.  She also said she didn’t wonder why he was willing to pay her and that she was “happy” to get the money.

The opium was estimated to be worth between $40,000 and $70,000.

The twice-divorced mother of an adult son worked in Germany as a hospital cleaner.

Warren gave Scheuer 584 days credit for her time in pre-trial custody, for a net sentence of 511 days.

The judge said that while Scheuer was not the mastermind of the smuggling plot, “her role was a necessary one.”

“Without someone prepared to carry the suitcases, the drugs would not find their way into this community,” Warren said.  “Profit was clearly her motive and, in my view, this is an aggravating factor.”

kbolan@postmedia.com

Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

Twitter.com/kbolan

You can read the ruling here

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