B.C. files unexplained wealth order following Vancouver shooting investigation

B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth looks on during a press conference at the legislature on Oct. 5, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito)

British Columbia's Public Safety Ministry says it has filed an unexplained wealth order application in court following a 2023 shooting at a Vancouver home.

As part of a criminal investigation, the ministry says a suspect's home was searched and police discovered an illegal cannabis-growing operation, ammunition and more than $1.4 million in cash.

The ministry says two other properties owned by the suspect and his partner were also searched and police uncovered another illegal cannabis operation, an air rifle and more than $21,000 in cash.

Solicitor General Mike Farnworth says in a news release that the ministry believes the properties, valued at about $5.6 million, and the money were the product of unlawful activity.

He says the goal of the court application is to obtain an order that would require the defendants to provide evidence to prove the properties and items seized were obtained legally.

Farnworth says the application is a demonstration of the "core reason" the province accepted the recommendation from an inquiry into money laundering to use such orders to target drug trafficking, drug production and illicit cannabis operations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.