Luxury condo in Richmond was hub for major drug dealing operation

Photo: RCMP

A man steeped in Lower Mainland gang life was caught in a high-end Richmond condo with more than $150,000 worth of illegal drugs, tens of thousands of dollars and a weapons cache.

Red Scorpion associate Billie Omare Kim was one of several drug-dealing, gangland cohorts snared in a multi-police agency operation at a luxury, 12th floor River Green “Five-Star Diamond” condo overlooking the Fraser River and the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Kim was found guilty last week at the BC Supreme Court of 14 charges, including nine counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking the likes of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine primarily for supply chains in Richmond, Delta and Vancouver.

Kim, who has been described in the past by police as a Burnaby resident, was also found guilty by Madame Justice Martha Devlin of five counts of illegal firearms possession, including three handguns and two semi-automatic rifles.

According to earlier reports, the condo was a "stash site" for a major drug-dealing operation run by B.C. gangs and, what is termed as their "line managers."

Kim's trial took place between June and September, following the police raid in September 2017, however, the judge’s verdict wasn’t published until last week.

The court had earlier heard how an undercover police officer made numerous drug deals with the group – which was running a dial-a-dope operation called Green Planet - for some time prior to the condo on Brighouse Way, near the Oval, coming under surveillance.

When the time came for the raid itself, the court was told how members of the Emergency Response Team breached the front door of the condo and made an “aerial” entry onto the 12th floor balcony.

Kim, the court heard, was on the balcony at the time of the raid.

The condo, according to the narrative from the trial, was “sparsely furnished” and the judge commented that it was “readily apparent” that no one lived at the unit and that it was a “stash site,” referring to all the drugs, drug paraphernalia, cash and weapons found.

The court also heard how Kim’s Burnaby address was also searched, where more items connected to the drug-dealing operation were found.

Kim’s defence relied largely on the fact that much of the evidence presented was circumstantial.

However, Judge Devlin was satisfied that the Crown had “established beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Kim had both knowledge and control of the controlled substances and the weapons found” in the condo in Richmond.

Kim is due to be sentenced at a later date.