Province tried to seize house of slain B.C. realtor in civil forfeiture case

A Coquitlam, B.C., realtor killed as she left her Austin Avenue office last week was at the centre of a civil forfeiture suit brought by the province as it tried to seize her house and some vehicles as proceeds of crime.

A Coquitlam, B.C., realtor killed as she left her Austin Avenue office last week was at the centre of a civil forfeiture suit brought by the province as it tried to seize her house and some vehicles as proceeds of crime.

Ramina Shah, 32, was stabbed in the parkade on Jan. 27 and later died in hospital.

Police were quick to call her killing targeted and said there was no ongoing risk to public safety but did not elaborate on what led to that conclusion.

“Ramina Shah has no ties to the ongoing gang conflict. This is not related to that. And there’s no ties to criminal activity,” Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Sgt. David Lee said Friday.

However, the suit brought in 2018 under the province’s Civil Forfeiture Act named Shah and her then-husband, Bobby Shah, as defendants.

In its statement of claim, the province laid out its case for seizing the couple’s Maple Ridge house and several vehicles, including a Land Rover and a Porsche, as proceeds of criminal activity.

According to the province, the RCMP searched the couple’s home and a Port Coquitlam business they owned called Hollywood Vape Labs.