A B.C. Supreme Court judge says Vernon RCMP committed "numerous and flagrant breaches" of an accused drug dealer's Charter rights and colluded with civil forfeiture authorities to "bypass" due process obligations to avoid giving back a vehicle.
The court issued two rulings on evidence collected by Vernon Mounties in a case against Nabil Abdelkader, who police believed was in the drug trade after finding methamphetamine and cocaine in a jeep they searched in October 2020.
The first ruling dated Jan. 24 says the investigation began in March 2020 after the jeep was involved in a hit-and-run on a cyclist in a Vernon parking lot, where two passengers got out of the vehicle and assaulted the rider after he was struck.
It says police seized the vehicle from Abdelkader's garage and referred it to B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Office, then drug investigators took over the case when they identified the man as a suspected trafficker, though he had no criminal record.
The ruling says police found a secret compartment in the jeep containing vacuum-sealed packages of narcotics, but they hadn't obtained a search warrant to remove the compartment or its "hidden" contents.
The court tossed out the drug evidence, finding police improperly used the hit-and-run investigation as a "ruse" to ensnare Abdelkader for drug trafficking, and they were helped by civil forfeiture officials who filed an "unsupportable" claim to seize the vehicle.
