British Columbia Launches Major Forfeiture Action Against Alleged Drug Trafficking Network
The province of British Columbia has initiated a significant civil forfeiture lawsuit targeting funds held in 37 separate financial accounts that authorities allege are connected to a sophisticated drug trafficking operation. According to court documents, this network distributed cannabis and psilocybin products across Canada through online channels, utilizing email money transfers to move substantial sums of illicit proceeds.
Legal Action Details and Allegations
A lawsuit filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court by the director of civil forfeiture on March 11, 2026, outlines a complex financial scheme allegedly operated by defendants in the Lower Mainland region. The legal action names 16 individuals from British Columbia who are accused of participating in what the lawsuit describes as a criminal organization. These defendants, some operating through numbered companies, are alleged to have sold controlled substances online, collected thousands of payments via email transfers, and systematically distributed the proceeds among participants in the operation.
The lawsuit explicitly states that the targeted accounts represent proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity, with the province seeking to have these assets forfeited to the Crown. A previous court order has already frozen the accounts at eight different financial institutions located throughout the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, including all five major Canadian banks along with several credit unions and investment firms.
Financial Transactions and Investigation Timeline
While the exact amount of money currently held in the 37 accounts remains unspecified in court documents, the lawsuit reveals that during a 14-month period between November 2024 and January 2026, the alleged criminal organization transferred more than $1.5 million through thousands of individual email money transfers into the various accounts. The financial activity drew attention from multiple banking institutions that submitted suspicious transaction reports to Canada's Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre, commonly known as Fintrac.
According to the legal filing, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's cyber and financial investigation unit received a tip from Fintrac in December 2023 regarding these suspicious transactions. The reports described how business bank accounts associated with federally incorporated companies were receiving email transfers representing proceeds from sales of illicit products through online storefronts.
Key Defendants and Legal Framework
The forfeiture case identifies several individuals allegedly central to the money laundering operation, including spouses Rosa Mohammadi and James Addison Sherbuck, whose last known address was in Burnaby, along with Noah Alan William Eves of Vancouver. The lawsuit alleges these three individuals were directly involved in laundering the proceeds from drug sales.
None of the defendants possessed licenses to sell cannabis or cannabis products, according to the legal action. The offences listed against the accused include various drug-related charges such as possession, trafficking, distribution, and promoting sales, along with possession of proceeds of crime, money laundering, participating in a criminal organization, and failure to declare taxable income.
It is important to note that none of the defendants have been criminally charged for the acts described in the forfeiture lawsuit, according to searches of British Columbia court records. The civil forfeiture process operates under a different legal standard than criminal proceedings, requiring proof on a balance of probabilities rather than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
As of the filing date, none of the named defendants have formally responded to the allegations in court. The case represents another significant action under British Columbia's civil forfeiture legislation, which has been increasingly utilized to target assets connected to organized crime and illicit activities throughout the province.
