Province aims to seize alleged Lake Country drug dealer’s home

An accused Lake Country drug dealer risks having his home and vehicle seized by the province after a massive weapons and drug seizure earlier this year.

The BC Director of Civil Forfeiture filed a claim in BC Supreme Court to take control of the man's home Friday, June 23, alleging Jesse Valentino Bou-Saleh employed multiple dealers to sell drugs in the Vernon area since at least June 2022.

He hasn't yet been charged, but Vernon North Okanagan RCMP led the initial seizure at four different Okanagan properties in early March.

The operation included the seizure of dozens of kilograms of drugs, more than $58,000 in cash, body armour and 45 guns. Some of those firearms were dubbed "ghost guns," which are homemade, untraceable guns that don't have serial numbers, according to court documents.

READ MORE: Dozens of guns and kilos of drugs seized in raids across Okanagan

"This is by far the largest and most significant drug and gun seizure this team has completed," Sgt. David Evans of the Vernon RCMP Targeted Policing Unit said in a news release at the time.

Bou-Saleh's wife, Katarina Bou-Saleh, is also named in the notice of claim. She's the registered owner of the Lake Country home on Stillwater Court and the 2012 Range Rover the province is aiming to seize.

According to court documents, the home was used for "unlawful activity" along with the Range Rover that Jesse allegedly used in his operation. The province claims he is the "true" owner of the Range Rover, while his wife is the "owner of convenience."

Police didn't find drugs at the Lake Country home, but did find money, body armour, six firearms and "score sheets," or records of drug dealing transactions, according to the notice of claim.

READ MORE: Having $20,000 of cocaine in condo nets Kelowna man five years jail

The other properties, a Westbank storage locker and homes in Armstrong and West Kelowna, were where police found the majority of the cache.

The storage locker had most of the drugs, with 28 kilograms of various amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine. It also had equipment for making drugs like a pill press, weigh scales and 28 kg of a cutting agent, according to court documents.

The civil forfeiture office claims Bou-Saleh's unnamed associates lived at or used the two other homes.

The Bou-Salehs haven't responded to the claim and none of the claims by the civil forfeiture office have been proven in court.

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