Lululemon theft ring revealed: Organized crew suspected behind wave of shoplifted gear

Court documents obtained by CBC detail the inner workings of a multi-level organized ring of stolen goods traffickers allegedly directing prolific shoplifters who have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of clothes from Lululemon stores across the Lower Mainland.

Search warrant and civil forfeiture materials claim a Burnaby man charged last year in a high-profile investigation into stolen gear was in contact with a Surrey woman whose home was raided by police this March — yielding $175,000 worth of stolen goods and cosmetics.

And even as he was beginning to defend himself against criminal charges of trafficking in stolen property, Surrey RCMP investigators claim the man was still "placing orders" with a street-level shoplifter "on what to steal."

The web of people allegedly behind the thefts is described in a warrant RCMP obtained in March to search the home and vehicle of a Surrey woman named Yawen Zeng who is accused of operating in an "organizing role" in a trafficking ring.

Zeng has not been charged criminally, but B.C.'s director of civil forfeiture filed a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit against her last month, citing the numerous items of stolen clothing found in her garage as evidence her home was bought, in part, through the proceeds of crime.

The search warrant details WhatsApp conversations where Zeng allegedly discussed prices and demand for specific Lululemon gear — including one asking for "skin creams" because of "worldwide competition" in which "Canadian price is higher than Asian or Europe."

"I believe this was a significant message because it showed Zeng's knowledge of worldwide retail pricing and that she likely shipped and sold products in various international markets," wrote Const. Chris Tessarolo, the RCMP officer who obtained the warrant.

"[This suggests] that she would be capable of being in a co-ordinating role for organized retail crime."

According to the search warrant, the RCMP's investigation began last November when police began following Minh Ngoc Ta — a Lethbridge man who is currently facing multiple charges relating to theft from Lululemon stores across the Lower Mainland.

Police mounted surveillance and watched as Ta allegedly took thousands of dollars worth of merchandise in grab-and-run thefts in the days before Christmas — hitting the Lululemon store in Surrey's Morgan Crossing mall five times in the space of a week.

Beyond physical surveillance, RCMP also obtained data for Ta's phone conversations — which allegedly showed him in communication immediately before and after the thefts with Manishkumar Sureshbhai Patel, one of two men charged last year with fencing Lululemon gear.

And so RCMP began reviewing the police files on that investigation.

The agency to first alert the public to the existence of a "large-scale, organized" Lululemon theft operation was Transit Police; they got involved because people selling stolen merchandise through Facebook Marketplace had used SkyTrain as a "getaway vehicle."

At a news conference last August, investigators said they had seized 800 items of Lululemon gear and arrested two men, but no charges had been filed.