On Friday night police descended on a home in Shaughnessy assessed at nearly $4 million, over alleged links to an illegal gambling operation.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) confirms it was assisted by Vancouver police in the execution of a search warrant at a home off Granville Street at 1450 W 37th Ave.
The CFSEU said the warrant was in relation to an illegal gaming investigation, but would not share any further information.
The CFSEU is in charge of B.C.’s specialized anti-gaming task force, the Joint Illegal Gaming Investigation Team (JIGIT).
A man who said he was the homeowner and identified himself as “Russell” declined to go on camera, but told Global News about 40 heavily armed police officers had entered the home and confiscated his card table and cell phone.
He said he was just playing cards with friends and that they were doing nothing wrong.
READ MORE: 9 people arrested in network connected to illegal gaming houses and money laundering in B.C.
He also told Global News another place of his near Clark and Hastings had been raided last year, an event he characterized as a misunderstanding.
A year ago to the day, on Feb. 2, 2018, the CFSEU and JIGIT raided an alleged illegal gambling operation known as “Se7enhaus” in a commercial property in the 1200-block of East Hastings.
Online ads for the room showed poker game buy-ins for up to $340.
Charges of keeping a gaming or betting house against a man named Russell Lim were announced in September in connection with that raid.
Court documents show Lim is due back in court next month.
-With files from Kristen Robinson