(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kamloops man denies being part of a motorcycle gang as police try to take more than $300,000 in alleged drug money seized from his garden store under B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act.

Zale Coty hasn't been charged, but police seized $320,952 from his Valleyview business in 2019 and claim he is a member of the Throttle Lockers motorcycle gang.

More than two years later, the provincial gang enforcement squad is appealing to the B.C. Supreme Court to have that money forfeited.

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Police seized cash, weapons and drugs from Coty's business and his home. Court documents also name an associate, Jacob Andrew Leonnard Cavanagh, who has a criminal record but is not alleged to be a member of the motorcycle gang.

According to court documents, Coty owned the store Sunshine Gardens, where undercover Kamloops RCMP officers bought cannabis and cocaine in April and May 2018.

The Kamloops RCMP investigation started in September 2017 when the detachment began looking at the Throttle Lockers motorcycle club operations stemming from its Okanagan chapter.

After picking up more than four pounds of illegal cannabis and two ounces of cocaine at the garden store, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. took over the investigation.

Cavanagh was determined to be trafficking drugs for Coty, according to court documents.

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Police bought drugs several times within 17 months from an unnamed employee. Officers spent more than $134,000, before finally executing search warrants on Nov. 26, 2019.

Officers seized various amounts of drugs, cash, weapons, ammunition and transaction records. Along with Sunshine Gardens, they searched Coty's home, Cavanagh's home and Cavanagh's vehicle, according to court documents.

Most of the cash was found loose or bundled in elastic bands and $14,000 of it was used by police to buy drugs during the investigation.

The civil forfeiture claim was filed in Victoria Supreme Court, where Coty later responded disputing several claims, including that he is a member of the motorcycle gang.

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The Director of Civil Forfeiture later amended the claim on March 1, 2022, and Coty has yet to respond.

The Director of Civil Forfeiture claims the money is both the proceeds of and a tool for unlawful activity so it should be withheld from both Cavanagh and Coty.

As the civil case remains in ongoing, there are still no criminal charges against Coty or Cavanagh related to the searches.

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