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Murdered Maple Ridge woman involved in civil forfeiture case

IHIT still investigating the fatal stabbing of Ramina Shah
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Flowers and a candle have been left in a parking garage where Maple Ridge woman Ramina Shah was fatally stabbed on the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 27, 2022. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press Media)

A Maple Ridge real estate agent and mother of three who was murdered in a Coquitlam parking lot was mired in a civil forfeiture lawsuit that was resolved in April last year.

In 2018, a civil forfeiture lawsuit was filed against Shah, also known as Ramina Karimzadeh Shirazi, and her then-husband Bobby Shah, also known as Bahman Djebelibak.

The plaintiff, the Director of Civil Forfeiture with the Ministry of the Attorney General, claimed that Djebelibak had used various false identities between May 2015 and January 2018 to persuade numerous people to cash fraudulent cheques on his behalf.

Civil forfeiture in B.C. targets proceeds of crime, allowing the provincial government to sue to seize cash, homes, cars, and other items. There is no requirement that the target of a civil forfeiture lawsuit be found criminally guilty first.

The alleged victims in the Djebelibak case gave him cash, gift cards, and consumer goods including jewelry, furniture, and other household items, the ministry alleged. Later, the cheques provided by Djebelibak to his victims came back as ‘Non-Sufficient Funds’, read the claim by the plaintiff.

A search of the couple’s Maple Ridge property and a Port Coquitlam business owned by the couple on March 15, 2018, by the Coquitlam RCMP turned up multiple items including: furniture victims reported purchasing for Djebelibak; expensive home audio equipment; multiple large television sets; multiple designer sunglasses, shoes, handbags, wallets; numerous bottles of high end unopened liquor bottles; multiple laptops, iPads, and tablet computers, two John Deere riding lawnmowers; and various gold, silver, and diamond jewelry items – among other things.

A search of a 2006 Pontiac G6 registered in the name of one of Djebelibak’s alleged victims that was also discovered on the property yielded an illegal aftermarket compartment that contained a brick about one kilogram of a substance believed to be cocaine; around one to two kilograms of fentanyl; one kilogram of Phenacetin, commonly used as a cutting agent for cocaine; and around one kilogram of Benzocaine, also commonly used as a cutting agent for cocaine.

The ministry claimed the property, located in the 26000 block of 124th Avenue, along with three other vehicles – a 2005 Honda CBR motorcycle registered to Djebelibak; and a 2007 Land Rover Range Rover and a 2010 Porsche Panamera both registered to a third defendant Majidreza Mirhosseini – was used by the couple as instruments for unlawful activity, and that they should be forfeited.

Both Djebelibak and Shirazi denied wrongdoing and in April 2021, the court ordered that the action against the couple be dismissed.

READ MORE: Maple Ridge Realtor identified as victim of fatal stabbing in Coquitlam

An overview of the property on redfin.ca says the 7,209 sq. ft. house with five bedrooms and seven bathrooms located on a 0.99 acre lot was last sold on April 28, 2016,for $1,698,000. It had been listed again on March 23, 2018, but then delisted on June 2, the same year.

Ramina Shah, 32, was discovered at about 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2022, with fatal stab wounds in an underground parking lot in the 1100-block of Austin Avenue, behind the real estate agency where she only recently started working.

Shah was discovered alive, but died of her injuries after being taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

A video posted online on Dec. 9, 2021, for Team Zubor and Associates with StoneHaus Realty, introduces Shah as one of their newest agents.

In the video Shah introduces herself as a mother of three and a passionate real estate investor for the past seven years.

Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) took over the case and is working with Coquitlam RCMP, the Integrated Forensic Identification Section (IFIS), and the BC Coroners Service, to find Shah’s killer.

Police say her killing appears to be isolated and not random.

Homicide investigators still want to speak to friends and associates of Shah, and they are also looking for dash-cam footage from between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 27 around the Austin Avenue area.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or by email at ihitinfo@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.


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Colleen Flanagan

About the Author: Colleen Flanagan

I got my start with Black Press Media in 2003 as a photojournalist.
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