New Westminster pawnshop owner charged after raid

A pawnbroker from New Westminster, B.C., has been charged with two counts of laundering proceeds of crime and counselling others to commit an indictable offence.

Vi Tran, the owner of Vibe Jewellers on Columbia Street, was arrested Monday morning following a three-month undercover police operation, said Sgt. Ivan Chu of the New Westminster Police.

Police seized a large number of items including bicycles, jewelry and computers, as well as three elephant tusks, each about one metre in length.

The rare ivory tusks, estimated to be worth $15,000 to $20,000 each, are believed to be from a walrus, an endangered species, police said

"What I have been told is they are from an animal at least two years in age," Chu said. "They are in the raw form, literally off the animal."

Investigators with the B.C. environment ministry are trying to determine where the tusks came from.

Be Pho, Tran's wife, told CBC News on Tuesday that the ivory tusks have been in the shop more than 15 years.

"The guy and his wife, they pawned [them] here… Finally they had no money so they left [them] here," she said.

Asked if she or her husband were aware that some of the goods in their store may have been stolen, Pho said it's "very hard to know" where pawned commodities come from all the time.

Tran also has a scrap metal licence, Chu said.

He is out on bail and can continue to operate the pawnshop, although police said they would like thecity to take away his right to operate any business.

Tran will have the opportunity to address that recommendation in January before city council.