How a Vancouver ATM user with 66 cards set off years-long probe of online drug sales

VANCOUVER — It was more than three years ago when Vancouver police arrested a man after he was seen using multiple bank cards to make withdrawals at an ATM.

A search revealed he was carrying 66 bank cards and $39,200 in cash.

The strange discovery in March 2023, described in an affidavit by an RCMP cyber crime investigator, would set off a chain of events leading to a years-long probe into nationwide illicit online sales of cannabis and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The investigation by RCMP with the help of FINTRAC, Canada’s money laundering watchdog, untangled a web of numbered companies and bank accounts used to allegedly collect, move and disguise the funds.

Despite the B.C. government’s Director of Civil Forfeiture alleging in a lawsuit that a “criminal organization” is behind the websites, no one named as a defendant in the case has faced criminal charges, and the websites targeted by investigators remain online offering a wide range of cannabis and psilocybin products.

The director instead filed a lawsuit in March 2026 seeking to seize funds from the holders of accounts where the money allegedly ended up.

Three account holders are accused of being “directly involved” in laundering the alleged drug funds in the affidavit by Sgt. Robin Critchley in support of the lawsuit.

Critchley describes how money from buyers off the websites would move through a multistage process, starting with an electronic money transfer.

“Once customers have selected and purchased the illicit products online, they are provided with an email to send an EMT to before they can receive the illicit products,” Critchley says.

“The controller receiving the EMTs can choose which bank account to receive the funds, typically going into various federally incorporated company accounts, then transferred into individuals’ personal banking accounts.”

The trio of account holders — married couple James Sherbuck and Rosa Mohammadi, and Noah Eves — are accused by the government of transferring more than $1.5 million generated from the illicit sales between November 2024 and January 2026, utilizing “thousands” of electronic money transfers to dozens of accounts.

Sherbuck and Mohammadi filed a response to the lawsuit denying the funds were from unlawful activity, and Mohammadi hung up when reached by phone. Eves, a 23-year-old who has claimed to be a sound engineer, did not respond to email and voicemail messages.

The B.C. Ministry of Public Safety said it was important to remember that civil forfeiture was not a criminal prosecution.

“The claim targets property alleged to be connected to unlawful activity — it does not lay charges against, or convict, any individual, and no criminal charges are required to bring or succeed in the action.” it said in a statement, adding that references to a “criminal organization” would have to be proved to a civil standard, rather than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.

Police surveillance notes attached to Critchley’s affidavit show how a team of officers began a two-day operation to follow Eves around Vancouver, starting before 5 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2025.

The notes say the trailing officers observed Eves visiting multiple bank ATMs, including an RBC Royal Bank, a CIBC branch, and a TD Bank, all on Fraser Street within a few blocks of each other, a Scotiabank on East 49th, and another RBC branch on Kingsway before heading to a residence in Burnaby, B.C.

Officers followed him the next day and observed him visiting ATMs at five different banks.

Police “task report” documents filed with the lawsuit also show officers from the province’s Community Safety Unit — which conducts enforcement against illegal cannabis operations — inspected a Burnaby warehouse unit on Roy Street in July 2025 as part of the probe.

The report said more than 200 kilograms of dried cannabis was seized from the unit, which was also found to contain extracts and psilocybin products, and shipping and packaging materials.

“Although the warehouse lacked organization consistent with a legitimate professional distribution centre, the building was clearly being used for commercial cannabis distribution,” the task report said.

Undercover officers had meanwhile ordered products from the websites using e-transfers to email addresses targeted by investigators.

Production orders obtained by police showed more than 20 email addresses receiving transfers of more than $1.1 million between Nov. 28, 2024, to Jan. 23, 2026, with the funds landing in accounts owned by the various individual and corporate defendants.

Court orders this month froze funds in several bank accounts, including online Wealthsimple investment accounts.

Most of the named defendants have not filed responses to the lawsuit, missing court deadlines and losing by default.

One of the numbered company defendants, 16813704 Canada Inc., filed a response denying knowledge of the allegations, holding any assets, or even having a bank account in Canada.

The company with an address in Prince George, B.C., has a director whose LinkedIn profile lists his occupation as a deputy sheriff at the Prince George courthouse. Calls to him were not returned.

Critchley’s affidavit says more than $217,000 went into that company’s Bank of Nova Scotia account at a branch in Surrey, B.C., via more than 1,000 e-transfers to one of the email addresses allegedly used by the illicit websites.

The RCMP declined to comment on the case.

“As this is an ongoing investigation, RCMP Federal Policing Pacific Region is unable to provide further details at this time.”

Statistics on the province’s Community Safety Unit website say enforcement since 2018 has resulted in seizures of more than $43 million worth of cannabis, while investigating more than 1,000 unregulated websites.

“Many illegal cannabis operators sell illegal products online through unregulated websites. The CSU is adapting its strategies to address these new challenges,” the website says.

“In collaboration with enforcement partners, the CSU has investigated 1,724 online cannabis stores and successfully disrupted 1,068 of them.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2026.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press