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(ASHLEY LEGASSIC - REPORTER / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - One Kamloops man has been found guilty of allowing a meth lab to operate on his property, while another has been found guilty of allowing an alleged drug dealer to conduct business out of his house.

Ikbal Shah and Joel Garrett were charged with several counts each relating to a drug investigation from 2015, when police surveillance was conducted at the homes of both Shah and Garrett.

Shah was charged with four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, and today, July 3, Supreme Court Justice Lisa Warren found him guilty of all counts in Kamloops Supreme Court.

Garrett was charged with two firearms offences, which he was acquitted of, but was found guilty of one count of production of a controlled substance. Both charges came out of a 2015 drug investigation, when police conducted surveillance on Garrett and Shah's homes.

Warren gave her decision today, and she described how Derek Sadden, a 28-year-old man who pleaded guilty to production of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking last month, produced meth inside a lab at Garrett’s property.

When the lab was first discovered it made headlines across Kamloops, with police calling it the largest meth lab ever discovered in Kamloops.

In her decision, Warren said Sadden had access to different areas of Garrett’s property, including his garage, and two rooms which Sadden used for the production and extraction of meth. She said it was not plausible that Garrett had no idea what was going on, as police officers described during trial the strong smells of acetone and fertilizer, and one officer recalled hearing bubbling from the lab while standing in the garage.

She said Sadden had left the lab unattended and reasonably should have been concerned with the possibility of Garrett discovering it if he truly had no knowledge about it.

“Mr. Sadden did not take that risk but rather he had no concern about the meth lab being discovered by Mr. Garrett, because Mr. Garrett knew what he was doing,” Warren said. “I am satisfied that Mr. Garrett’s knowledge of the meth lab is the only reasonable inference available.”

Sadden was also associated with another man, who was not charged in the matter, although the police investigation originally surrounded around the pair.

That man, court heard, had spent time with Sadden when they attended Garrett’s home and workplace on different occasions, but he also had a close relationship with Shah.

Warren said in her decision that both Shah and a friend of his testified during trial that the man had spent nearly every day at Shah’s home in Valleyview over a period of time.

When police executed a search warrant at Shah’s home, they found two safes, two money counters, two cell phones, cash, a sheet of paper that was considered a scoresheet by police, two diaries which included some drug jargon, although Shah denied those writings were his.

Inside one of the safes was thousands of dollars worth of drugs, including 762 fentanyl pills, 276.4 grams of meth, 560.2 grams of cocaine, and 42.4 grams of heroin.

Police also found two weigh scales and two cookie tins which had hundreds of baggies inside.

Shah had been dealing with several health issues at the time, which he argued clouded his judgement and made him unaware of what business the man was conducting in his home.

Warren also described a day trip Shah took with the man, which included renting a car, driving from Kamloops to Langley, stopping briefly in a parking lot while the man got out for a few minutes, and turning right around and driving back to Kamloops. She said it’s not plausible Shah would never have asked what the purpose of the trip was.

Tens of thousands of dollars worth of drugs were found in a safe, which Shah argued he didn’t use and that the man must have been using it without his knowledge.

“The only reasonable inference to be drawn… is that Mr. Shah was in possession of the drugs found in the safe, he knew the drugs were there,” Warren said.

Warren also pointed out Shah was inconsistent with his evidence between direct questioning and cross-examination, pointing to an instance where Shah claimed in direct that he had written down directions to an address and drew a map, but in cross-examination he “remembered” that he had been invited to Sadden’s home for a dinner party which is why he had his address and directions written down.

Warren said he also changed his evidence about how he came into possession of one of the money counters.

The drugs in Shah’s home totaled roughly $48,000 to $84,000, Warren said, adding that the drugs weren’t just stored there, they were divided and measured there.

She said it wasn’t likely someone would try and covertly weigh and package drugs while Shah was at home most days as he worked from home. He also had a friend of 15 years who would come over to help with errands, and his mother would visit.

A date for the pair's sentencing has not yet been set.

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