BC Chemical Businessman Pushes Back Against Civil Forfeiture Claim Linking His Mansion to Alleged China-Based Fentanyl Syndicate Sanctioned by US Treasury
VANCOUVER — Bobby Shah, a chemical businessman whose Maple Ridge mansion is the subject of a British Columbia civil forfeiture action, has filed a detailed court response denying that his $3.4-million residence was used in connection with fentanyl production or trafficking — and rejecting government allegations linking him to a China-based chemical narcotics syndicate sanctioned by the United States Treasury in a sweeping international investigation that characterized his company, Valerian Labs Inc., as a Canada-based node in a network trafficking fentanyl precursors and opioid additives, including through dark web marketplaces, into the United States.
Shah, also known as Bahman Djebelibak, also says a hazmat truck fire involving an employee he allegedly directed to move inventory from the US-sanctioned Valerian Labs into the BC Interior was the result of a mechanical failure — not, as the province alleges, criminal lab activity ignited by hazardous chemicals.
British Columbia’s civil forfeiture program allows the province to pursue property it believes to be the proceeds or instrument of serious crime, operating under a lower standard of proof than a criminal conviction and without requiring one. The program has been used to target what the province characterizes as sophisticated organized crime, drug trafficking, and money laundering activity. It has also drawn sustained criticism from defence lawyers and civil liberties advocates who argue that its evidentiary threshold creates the risk of Charter violations and prosecutorial overreach — concerns that Shah’s legal team explicitly raises in his filed response.
Shah’s mansion was searched by the RCMP in December 2024, producing what the Director describes as a massive seizure of chemicals consistent with narcotics production — an action that came weeks after the RCMP raided an alleged fentanyl superlab in Falkland, BC, a remote community in the mountainous BC Interior north of Kelowna and Merritt, in the general region where the truck fire at the centre of this case occurred in November 2023.
Shah has never been charged by the RCMP in connection with illicit lab activities, nor in connection with the Falkland superlab investigation.
He has repeatedly denied involvement in criminal activity since being sanctioned by the US Treasury in October 2023. His statement of defence in this civil forfeiture proceeding maintains that position in detail — arguing that his importation and distribution of chemicals was entirely lawful under Canadian law, and that the US Treasury sanctions and resulting foreign law enforcement pressure caused Canadian authorities to act against him without legal merit.
The Director of Civil Forfeiture’s case is sweeping and severe.
According to the Notice of Civil Claim, Shah and Valerian Labs were sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in October 2023 as part of a coordinated strike against a China-based criminal syndicate that, since at least 2016, manufactured and distributed large quantities of fentanyl, opioid additives, and precursor chemicals at an international scale. The syndicate, the Director alleges, supplied drug traffickers across the United States, dark web narcotics vendors, virtual currency money launderers, and Mexico-based criminal organizations. The claim also alleges the syndicate used tactics to avoid detection — including counterfeit postage labels, false return labels, false invoices, falsified customs documentation, and concealment packaging — and relied on US-based re-shippers and third-party payment processors such as PayPal and AliPay.
The notice further alleges Shah has a criminal record, including convictions related to counterfeit money and credit card offences, unauthorized use of computer service, and possession of property obtained by crime, among others.
When the RCMP executed a search warrant at Shah’s 124th Avenue mansion in December 2024, they say they found what amounted to a warehouse: approximately 17,607 kilograms and 44,207 litres of chemicals, controlled substances, and precursor chemicals, including aniline, propionic anhydride, sodium borohydride, and sodium cyanide — substances the Director says may be used in the production of fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and MDMA. The claim also lists additional chemicals — including tetrahydrofuran, acetyl chloride, hexane, pyridine, glacial acetic acid, and acetonitrile — similarly described as substances that “may be used” in narcotics production. Also found: approximately 255 kilograms of unidentified white powder bundled in a manner consistent with drug trafficking, a 50-ton hydraulic press, a money-counting machine, and importation documents. Police also seized five iPhones, multiple computers including MacBooks and a Lenovo laptop, iPads, desktop computers, portable hard drives, USB drives, and micro-SD cards, along with spreadsheets of chemical shipments, chemical warning labels and placards, and correspondence involving the BC Ministry of Environment and Peyman Sheirzad.
The Director says Shah’s lawful income was never sufficient to account for the property, and that the mansion is both the proceeds and an instrument of unlawful activity. The claim also seeks an unexplained wealth order compelling Shah to provide particulars on how the property was acquired and maintained. It further pleads that a mortgage and an assignment of rents were registered against the property in early 2024 by Bilhar Singh Dosanjh, followed by a certificate of pending litigation later that year — and says it will ask the court to protect Dosanjh’s interest on the basis he was not involved in any alleged unlawful activity.
Separately, the notice alleges that a 26-foot Penske rental truck fire in November 2023 involved hazardous chemicals originating from the Valerian Labs offices and that those chemicals ignited, causing or contributing to the blaze. The claim alleges the truck was rented and driven by Peyman Sheirzad under Shah’s direction or instruction.
Shah does not dispute that large quantities of chemicals were found at the property, but says every item was a lawful industrial commodity that entered Canada through Canada Border Services Agency examination with full documentation, and that every shipment was reviewed by the CBSA and — Shah says — personally approved for release by RCMP Chemical Division Officer John Harnett.
He says Valerian Labs maintained over 253 distinct chemical products distributed to legitimate end-users across multiple industries, and that the government has cherry-picked 17 of them — less than seven percent of the inventory — describing each with the phrase “may be used” in illicit production. The mere fact that a solvent can hypothetically be misused, he argues, does not make its possession illegal.
On the US Treasury sanctions, Shah says the designation was triggered by Valerian Labs’ purchase of Methylamine Hydrochloride — a substance classified as a Schedule I precursor in the United States but which, under Canadian law, he argues carries no classification as a precursor and no licensing requirement for possession or distribution. He also disputes the Director’s characterization of the US allegations, noting that the Treasury materials described his company as a distributor of illicit precursor chemicals and equipment — not a producer or trafficker of finished illicit drugs. He says Health Canada’s own authorizations official confirmed under cross-examination that the subsequent revocation of Valerian Labs’ Class B precursor registration was based solely on the US press release, with no independent Canadian investigation, no compliance failure identified, and no other evidence considered.
On the truck fire, Shah says that following the licence suspension he retained a transportation company operated by Peyman Sheirzad under a written Chemical Transportation Agreement to consolidate and relocate lawful inventory from storage. Under that agreement, Sheirzad’s company assumed full operational control of the load, including Transportation of Dangerous Goods compliance and emergency response responsibility. The fire, Shah says, was determined by ICBC to have resulted from mechanical failure caused by the vehicle being overweight — and he expressly disputes the allegation that the chemicals ignited, saying the cargo neither ignited nor caused the blaze.
On the financial transactions the Director characterizes as suspicious — cash deposits across multiple companies, inter-company transfers, and credit card charges to AliPay — Shah says these reflect ordinary activity across a group of founder-operated businesses paying expenses, purchasing inventory, servicing leases, and meeting payroll. All chemical vendors, he says, were sourced through publicly accessible business-to-business platforms including Alibaba, DH Gate, and IndiaMART — arm’s-length commercial transactions that do not, he argues, establish affiliation with any criminal organization.
Shah’s property acquisition history, he says, is fully documented: a first home purchased in 2013 for approximately $867,000, renovated, and sold in 2016 for approximately $1.6 million, generating net proceeds of approximately $800,000, which were applied toward the 124th Avenue purchase. The down payment for the first home included savings and a documented, non-repayable $100,000 wedding gift from his late spouse’s mother. Canada Revenue Agency assessments for 2018 to 2022 show reported income rising from $110,000 to $647,000, on which he paid substantial tax. The 124th Avenue property was purchased for approximately $1.7 million with a down payment of roughly $600,000 and has been his family home for a decade — currently the primary residence of his spouse and children, he says, with a current approximate value of $3.4 million.
Using civil forfeiture to seize a family residence in circumstances where the government “has not proven, and may never prove, any related criminal offence,” he argues in his filed response, risks “converting the CFA into a punitive regime contrary to ss. 7, 8, and 11 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”