Vancouver Police Property Office Tampering

In 2022, Vancouver police started an investigation called "Project Loyalty" to figure out if someone with access to the force's property office might have worked with criminals to mess with evidence in a big murder case. The whole thing kicked off after it came out in court that two Blackberry phones, seized back in 2012 in connection with an execution-style murder, had been swapped out for "imposter phones." This murder happened in a busy downtown Vancouver restaurant.

Police have been looking into this, reviewing three months of motion-activated video from the property office and getting phone records for some VPD staff. They've also gotten eight search warrants and even done polygraph interviews with the civilian property custodians. Sergeant Chatinder Thiara, the chief investigator for Project Loyalty, said in an affidavit in January 2025 that he believes whoever did this probably had "assistance from within the VPD property office." He thinks the most likely scenario is that the original phones were replaced right there in the property office.

Thiara also stated that he believes one or more people worked together, even across different jurisdictions, to commit these offenses. As of that affidavit, Project Loyalty hadn't identified any specific targets or suspects, but they haven't ruled out the involvement of any of the accused or their associates in the original murder case.

The existence of Project Loyalty first came up last year during pre-trial hearings for Dean Wiwchar, the hitman who eventually pleaded guilty to plotting to kill gangster Sandip Duhre. A publication ban had been in place during those proceedings. Wiwchar was sentenced to 20 years in prison last December. Justice Kathleen Ker, in a 2025 ruling, said that if Thiara's theory was correct, it would have "exceedingly serious ramifications for the integrity of the VPD property office." Wiwchar even lectured police in court about what he called corruption, saying, "If the cop's still in the building — it's going to happen."

A VPD spokesperson said recently that the investigation is still open. They stated that an extensive review was done, and important items like money, drugs, and firearms were all accounted for. They also said that no evidence was found implicating any VPD employees in swapping evidence, and the theory that it happened in the property office was just an investigative theory without other evidence to contradict it.

The murder that started all this was when Wiwchar shot Duhre ten times in the head in January 2012 at the Wall Centre restaurant. This was reportedly payback for the killing of Jonathon Bacon a year earlier. The two Blackberry phones in question, a Bold 9000 and a Curve, were seized from Larry Amero and Rabih Alkhalil in August 2012 from their Montreal apartment. These two men were later charged in Duhre's killing, with Amero convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and Alkhalil convicted of conspiracy and first-degree murder.