B.C. wants to keep cash seized from Vancouver man in biker investigation

When Vancouver resident Edward James caught a ferry to Nanaimo in May 2020, then drove his truck up to Campbell River, police were watching.

After he allegedly delivered a kilogram of cocaine to a “known member of a criminal organization,” he was arrested.

Now the director of civil forfeiture has filed a lawsuit against James to get his 2005 Toyota Tundra truck and more than $85,000 in cash forfeited to the B.C. government.

The arrest stemmed from a joint investigation by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit and the RCMP’s Federal Serious Organized Crime unit into a Vancouver Island drug-trafficking network that allegedly involved Nanaimo Hells Angels and their puppet clubs.

James was not criminally charged, but four others — including two full-patch Hells Angels — now face 41 counts, including trafficking and possession of illegal firearms, after being charged Nov. 30, 2022.