B.C. seeks to seize properties linked to Savages biker gang
B.C. is seeking the forfeiture of two Vancouver Island properties linked to a police investigation targeting a Hells Angels puppet club
Kim Bolan Vancouver Sun Published May 30, 2024
https://vancouversun.com/news/crime/b-c-seeks-to-seize-properties-linked-to-savages-biker-gang
The B.C. government is seeking to seize two Vancouver Island properties linked to a police investigation targeting the Savages biker gang.
On Wednesday, the director of civil forfeiture filed a lawsuit against John Robert-Lee Riches, a full-patch member of the Hells Angels-affiliated Savages, and two associates, arguing their properties should be handed over to the government.
The lawsuit calls the Savages a “criminal organization” and alleges that Riches and Kenneth Baker “have been members of an organization comprised of more than three persons … which has as one of its main purposes or main activities the facilitation or commission of one or more serious offences.”
The director wants the Langford condo owned by Riches forfeited, along with a Sooke Road acreage owned by Baker and Taylor Church. The total assessed value of the two properties is just over $2 million.
The lawsuit said both properties have been used as “instruments of unlawful activity, namely, the laundering of proceeds of crime” obtained through drug trafficking.
None of the three people named in the lawsuit has been charged.
The case stems from a West Shore RCMP investigation that included several searches of Vancouver Island properties on Jan. 31, 2024. The Savages Langford clubhouse, at 2775 Spencer Rd., was one of the buildings targeted. It is now listed for sale for just under $1.4 million.
At the time, Cpl. Nancy Saggar said police seized about 450 grams of fentanyl and 150 grams of methamphetamine during the searches, as well as other illicit drugs and items related to trafficking.
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