Province tried to seize house of slain B.C. realtor in civil forfeiture case

COQUITLAM, B.C. -

A Coquitlam, B.C., realtor killed as she left her Austin Avenue office last week was at the centre of a civil forfeiture suit brought by the province as it tried to seize her house and some vehicles as proceeds of crime.

Ramina Shah, 32, was stabbed in the parkade on Jan. 27 and later died in hospital.

Police were quick to call her killing targeted and said there was no ongoing risk to public safety but did not elaborate on what led to that conclusion.

“Ramina Shah has no ties to the ongoing gang conflict. This is not related to that. And there’s no ties to criminal activity,” Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Sgt. David Lee said Friday.

However, the suit brought in 2018 under the province’s Civil Forfeiture Act named Shah and her then-husband, Bobby Shah, as defendants.

In its statement of claim, the province laid out its case for seizing the couple’s Maple Ridge house and several vehicles, including a Land Rover and a Porsche, as proceeds of criminal activity.

According to the province, the RCMP searched the couple’s home and a Port Coquitlam business they owned called Hollywood Vape Labs.

The suit accuses Bobby Shah, who it says also uses the name Bahman Djebelibak, of running a fraud operation involving fake identities and cheques written from accounts without sufficient funds.

It claims the RCMP found a kilogram of what was believed to be cocaine along with one to two kilos of fentanyl in a secret compartment in a car at the couple’s home.

The province alleged the house was used as a base of operations for fraud, laundering the proceeds of unlawful activity, and drug trafficking.

The Shahs denied the accusations, which were never proven in court.

The civil forfeiture case was dropped last year and Bobby Shah is now the sole owner of the house which was recently assessed at $2.9 million.

IHIT did not respond to further questions seeking clarity around Ramina Shah’s possible connections to criminal activity and the status of its investigation into her murder.

In a recent and cryptic post on social media, the victim wrote, “Be careful when it comes to revenge.”

She wrote the lengthy text just 10 days before she was murdered.

“I never wish ill on anyone,” she said in conclusion. “Even those trying to hurt me.”

It is unclear whether the post has anything to do with her death.