Arrests made, $100k worth of booze recovered in LDB theft

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Two men from Surrey and one from Delta have been arrested in connection with a theft at the BC Liquor Distribution Branch.

“The Vancouver Police were notified in April that there was some sort of internal theft investigation going on with the Liquor Distribution Branch,” explains VPD Constable Jason Doucette. “Our partners called us in and from there we worked together.”

Investigators were able to collect enough evidence for a search warrant, and Doucette says three men –one of whom is an employee — were arrested on May 14th.

Officers executed the search warrant the next day at a home in Delta, which resulted in the discovery of more than $100,000 in hard alcohol.

“We were able to locate that residence where we did find over 1,000 bottles of hard alcohol, and boxes and boxes of this stuff,” he adds. “We did recover boxes and boxes of this stuff, well above personal use.”

It’s unclear what exactly tipped off the LDB that something was wrong, but Doucette says the Distribution Branch does have its own internal flagging system.

“But they did contact us. We worked with them, we worked with them very well. Collected enough information to identify those responsible.”

There’s no word on how the men were able to get the liquor out of the branch.

The three men have since been released on court-imposed conditions, and Doucette says he expects charges to be laid soon.

“We’re looking at theft over $5,000 and possession of stolen property over $5,000. But we’re going to work with Crown and lay what’s appropriate.”

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