A man who has been the target of at least two drive-by shootings and had connections to the notorious Bacon brothers was arrested last week, and police say he is connected to the ongoing Townline Hill conflict in Abbotsford.
Barinder (Brian) “Shrek” Dhaliwal, 33, has been charged with several firearms offences. Police say officers from the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit observed a vehicle believed to be connected to the ongoing conflict “engaged in behaviour consistent with drug trafficking” last Tuesday.
Officers pulled over the vehicle in Abbotsford, but it then fled. The vehicle was relocated and a man was seen running from it before it again sped away.
Police arrested the man who had fled on foot and, with the help of a police dog, located a loaded 9mm handgun nearby. The vehicle was not found again.
After the arrest, police searched a home in the 19800 block of 83rd Avenue in Langley. That search turned up “ammunition and a small pistol suspected of being modified to shoot .22 calibre ammunition.”
Dhaliwal has since been charged with one count each of unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a prohibited loaded firearm, possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, and possession contrary to a court order.
Dhaliwal was believed to be the target of a drive-by shooting that occurred in January 2011 at a home on Bradner Road. A 25-year-old woman had just pulled into the driveway when shots rang out, and the bullets narrowly missed her.
Late that year, Jarrod Bacon alleged in wiretape evidence that was presented during his trial on drug-conspiracy charges that Dhaliwal, whom he had known all his life, could front the $3 million in cash required to purchase a supply of cocaine.
Bacon was working for the Red Scorpions gang at the time of his arrest in 2009, and the cocaine scheme was an undercover police operation that resulted in Bacon’s conviction and a 14-year prison term.
A second drive-by shooting in the area of Dhaliwal’s home took place in September 2012, resulting in a 24-year-old man suffering a gunshot wound to his arm. The victim had been in a Ford SUV with some other people when the vehicle was shot at several times.
Search warrant documents later showed that one of the men who was a suspect in the shooting was Jujhar Khun-Khun, now in jail on murder charges related to the 2011 shooting of Jonathan Bacon outside of a Kelowna casino.
The two Bradner Road drive-by shootings prompted police to later install video surveillance cameras in the area of Dhaliwal’s home.
Dhaliwal again was targeted in July 2013, when he was shot at while driving along Downes Road between 264 Street and Mt. Lehman Road.
He showed up at the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound, and hospital staff informed police. At the time, police said the victim would not provide many details.
The Townline Hill conflict started more than two years ago in Abbotsford. It is named for Townline Road and adjacent neighbourhoods in which two groups of young men – primarily of South Asian descent – are battling for drug turf.
Several drive-by shooting and three murders have been linked to the conflict.