BURST
When the RCMP raided the Maple Ridge house of Bobby Shah in December 2024, officers found more than 44,000 litres of “hazardous chemicals,” including precursors for fentanyl and methamphetamine, a new lawsuit says.
Now the B.C. government wants the controversial chemical seller’s palatial home, currently for sale for $3.6 million, forfeited as a proceed of crime.
A lawsuit filed by the director of civil forfeiture says Shah, owner of Valerian Labs in Port Coquitlam, didn’t have enough legitimate income to buy the 7,000 square foot house.
The statement of claim cites the U.S. Treasury investigation that resulted in Shah being sanctioned in October 2023 along with 25 other individuals and entities “for their involvement in the international proliferation of illicit drugs.”
The lawsuit said the sanctioned parties, including Shah, were affiliated with a China-based criminal organization, dubbed the syndicate, that “manufactured and distributed large quantities of illicit drugs, opioid additives, and precursor chemicals used in the production of narcotics such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, as well as laundered the proceeds of crime, at an international level.”
“The syndicate was the source of supply for various drug traffickers in the U.S., dark web vendors, virtual currency money launderers and Mexico-based criminal organizations,” the director said.
“Members of the syndicate established and/or were employees of companies through which the sale and export of illicit drugs, opioid additives and/or precursor chemicals was openly advertised online, as well as methods or strategies to avoid detection by authorities,” the lawsuit also alleged.
The syndicate used “counterfeit postage labels, false return labels, false invoices, falsified customs documentation, containers or packaging to conceal the illicit contents, special delivery procedures, and/or U.S.-based reshippers.”
Illicit profits were moved “through cryptocurrency transactions, bank wire transactions, international money transfers and third-party payment processors such as PayPal and Alipay,” it said.
“Shah and/or Valerian Labs purchased and imported opioid additives, precursor chemicals … and/or equipment, devices or other things related to trafficking in a controlled substance from members of the syndicate,” said the claim, filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Jan. 12.
The chemicals seized from the house included aniline, propionic anhydride and diisopropylethylamine, propionic anhydride and diisopropylethylamine, all of which “may be used in the production of fentanyl,” the director said. Other chemicals found are also used in the production of fentanyl analogs, methamphetamine, MDMA, heroin and cocaine.”
Also located in the house in the 26000-block of 124th Avenue was “approximately 255 kilograms of unknown, white powdered substances, which were bundled or packaged in a manner consistent with drug trafficking.”
There were also computers and phones seized, plus various documents related to the chemicals, as well as “correspondence between the B.C. Ministry of Environment and (Peyman) Sheirzad,” described as Shah’s associate or employee.
Postmedia News previously reported that Sheirzad was driving a rental truck full of Valerian chemicals that caught fire on Highway 97C in November 2023, resulting in its closure for 18 hours and a series of lawsuits and countersuits.
The director noted that when all the chemicals were found at Shah’s house, he had no authorizations or permits to store them. Health Canada revoked Valerian’s permits in October 2023 after the U.S. sanctions were announced. He had tried to appeal the revocation in Federal Court, but his case was dismissed in November 2025.
Shah hasn’t yet filed any statement of defence. Nor did he respond to an emailed request for comment. He has previously denied the U.S. allegations against him.
He isn’t facing any new criminal charges. No one from the RCMP responded to a request for comment Friday on the status of their investigation.
The civil forfeiture lawsuit also alleges Shah was involved in suspicious financial transactions from January 2021 and May 2025 involving both corporate accounts and personal accounts of employees. It alleges the crimes he has committed include: importing controlled substances without a licence, drug trafficking, conspiracy, money laundering, participating in the activities of a criminal organization and failure to declare taxable income.
And it notes his criminal record for “making or using a banknote or paper, uttering or using counterfeit money, unauthorized use of credit card data, credit card forgery, credit card theft, unauthorized use of computer service, obstructing a peace officer, taking a motor vehicle without consent, possession of property obtained by crime, and breach of undertaking or recognizance.”
Bluesky: @kimbolan.bsky.social