B.C. fentanyl superlab property owner says he was just the landlord
Michael Driehuyzen filed a statement of defence this week in response to a lawsuit filed by the B.C. government alleging his property should be forfeited for its links to criminality
By Kim Bolan
Last updated 7 hours ago
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The Abbotsford man who owns the Falkland property where Canada’s largest-ever fentanyl superlab was discovered in October says he was just the landlord and unaware of what was going on there.
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Michael Driehuyzen filed a statement of defence this week in response to a lawsuit filed by the B.C. government saying the property should be forfeited for its links to criminality.
The director of civil forfeiture filed its claim against the 66-hectare rural property at 5011 Hoath Rd. on Jan. 31. Also named as a defendant was Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa, the only person so far facing criminal charges in the case. He remains in custody pending a bail hearing scheduled for Feb. 21.
The claim said that between January and Oct. 25, 2024, the Hoath Road property was used in the production, storage and processing of illicit drugs.
When police raided the property on Oct. 25, it found “a large sophisticated clandestine laboratory” capable of producing large quantities of drugs including fentanyl, methamphetamine and MDMA.
But Driehuyzen said in the response that he “as landlord, did not participate or acquiesce in any unlawful activity at the property done by his tenant or his tenant’s agents.”
He doesn’t name the tenant or the agent that he rented the property to.
And he said he bought the property in 2007 “with his accumulated savings from his employment, including his employment as an electrician.”
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“The property is from lawful hard work and savings. No portion of property represents proceeds of crime,” his court filing said, adding that “the property is not being used for unlawful activity.”
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He also said that when the property was searched on Oct. 25, “the RCMP violated the defendant’s Charter rights in the course of the investigation.”
His defence doesn’t mention previous searches of the property in 2015 and 2016, where police found illicit cannabis-growing operations, according to the statement of claim.
Cpl. Arash Seyed, of the RCMP’s federal serious and organized crime section, said the investigation is continuing and police are still in control of the property. He said the RCMP often makes a referral to the forfeiture office as probes continue.
“We often submit a civil forfeiture request in order to place a hold on the property/assets so the assets are securely held for eventual seizure at the conclusion of the investigation,” he said. “We do this hold request in order to ensure the assets are not sold or disposed of during the course of the investigation and potential trial, which also often happens. So, the property won’t be given back until the investigation takes its course.”
He said investigators “have had some communications with the owner’s lawyer about the property.”
Driehuyzen isn’t facing any criminal charges in connection with the unprecedented lab, which was producing meth and fentanyl.
The property’s assessed value rose $10,000 to $938,000 this year, despite the criminal investigation.
The RCMP said last fall that it had already spent about $1 million in cleanup costs of the property.
Bluesky: @kimbolan.bsky.social
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