Two Okanagan drug lab properties are now the focus of civil suits filed by the provincial government.
Civil forfeiture action has been filed against a property in Falkland and one in Spallumcheen.
B.C. is looking to claim the lands after illegal drug labs were exposed by RCMP.
The Reservoir Road property, near Enderby, was cordoned off by Vernon North Okanagan RCMP Feb. 19, 2025 while a search warrant was executed at a suspected clandestine lab.
The investigation started earlier that week when officers attended the property to arrest someone on a warrant, and they observed materials that suggested the possible presence of a drug lab. The suspect was not present on the property at the time, but the synthetic drug lab was observed in plain view in a workshop adjacent to the home.
The search revealed various chemical precursors, solvents, acids, bases, equipment used in the production of synthetic drugs and various unknown chemicals.
Five individuals were detained for the production of a controlled substance. Police also returned to recover a stolen snowmobile and cargo trailer.
"The property is proceeds and an instrument of unlawful activity," reads the civil forfeiture, filed on June 30, 2025. It continues: "The property is likely to be used to facilitate the unlawful activity in the future."
The forfeiture is against property owners Gus Christopher Adams, Mary Ellen Ann Medema and Anne Darlene Adams, all from Kelowna. Terence Chaplin, listed as living at the property, is also named as he is a registered holder of a builder's lien on the property.
The Adams' and Medema purchased the 52-acre property in 2019. It is now assessed at $1.067 million.
None of the named have responded to the claim, which needed to be done within 21 days of being served (July 21, 2025).
Even before the drug bust, issues with the property were ongoing.
The Township of Spallumcheen filed civil claims against the owners and tenant in 2023 due to work on the land, parking multiple trailers and fifth-wheels and construction of buildings all without permits and near a creek running through the property.
Letters were sent, fines were issued, a stop work orders and then do not occupy order were posted at the property.
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The owners, who said Chaplin had been living on the property since 2016, responded to the claim nearly six months later. They denied most of the claims, saying they were not aware and are not liable for Chaplin's actions.
In the case of the Falkland property, on Hoath Road, Michael Driehuyzen and Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa are named in the Jan. 31, 2025, action.
Forfeiture of equipment is also sought, including a flat deck, pump service trailer, gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer.
The claim states the property "was used as an instrument of unlawful activity, including the production, possession, storage and trafficking of controlled substances, including fentanyl, methamphetamine and MDMA."
Driehuuzen purchased the 163-acre property in 2007. It is now assessed at $938,000.
Driehuzen's last known address is Abbotsford, while Randhawa's is in Surrey.
The Federal Serious and Organized Crime unit executed a warrant at the property on Oct. 25, 2024 and located "a large sophisticated clandestine laboratory producing and capable of producing large quantities of controlled substances."
RCMP called it the largest, most sophisticated drug superlab in Canada.
Officers located 52 kilograms of fentanyl, 30 kgs of MDMA, several tons of precursor chemicals for making controlled substances, laboratory equipment, a sophisticated system of security cameras hidden throughout the property and documentation.
In addition to the latest findings, an unlawful cannabis grow operation was found at the property in 2015 and 2016.
Driehuyzen filed a response to the claim Feb. 11, 2025, admitting to owning the property, but denied all other claims.
"The defendant, as landlord, did not participate or acquiesce in any unlawful activity at the property done by his tenant or his tenant's agents," the response reads.
It continues: "The seized monies are entirely the proceeds of lawful activity and there is therefore no basis for forfeiture."
In both lawsuits, the accused are said to "ought to have known the manner in which the property was being used and is likely to be used in the future. In the alternative, the defendant was wilfully blind or reckless to the manner in which the property was used and is likely to be used in the future."
Court records show no charges against Driehuyzen while there are multiple against Randhawa from October 2024, as well as May and September of the same year. Randhawa's last appearance in April 2025 in Surrey Court shows 11 charges included importing/exporting a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and multiple firearms offences.
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