An "organized retail crime ring" that has been operating in Metro Vancouver and targeting Lululemon stores has connections to a Surrey resident, court documents allege.
On March 7, 2025, police in Surrey executed a search warrant at the South Surrey home of Yawen Zeng and her husband. Police seized 493 clothing items allegedly stolen from Lululemon and 30 clothing items from other retail stores, plus 369 cosmetic items, 113 gift cards for various retail stores, and $6,741.75 in Canadian cash.
The search warrant outlines that Zeng allegedly played a more "organizing role," in which she obtained the stolen products from retail thieves before selling them. It noted that she did not have a criminal record and had a "very limited" history with police, and there were no criminal files on her.
The documents show that Zeng had communicated with Manishkumar Patel, who is known to have "contact with prolific Lululemon thieves." Patel and his cousin Manan Shah were charged in October 2024 with trafficking stolen property and possessing property obtained by a crime over $5,000.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police searched Patel and Shah's home in July 2024 and seized $86,000 of stolen Lululemon items and $20,000 in Canadian cash. Their phones were also seized.
None of these charges have yet been proven in court. The next court appearance for Patel and Shah is scheduled for July 21, 2025, for a preliminary inquiry.
The search warrant for Zeng's home notes that police found the connection between Zeng and Patel "strange" as Patel was communicating with people with criminal histories, "where Zeng did not have any history."
"This made me believe that Zeng was disconnected from the thefts in more of an organizing role, where she may be fencing stolen products that Patel would send her from low-level retail thieves," the search warrant says.
The search warrant included messages between Patel and Zeng, in which she inquires about skin creams and discusses their prices.
The court document reveals that one of the thieves, identified as TA, allegedly stole clothing from eight Lululemon stores across the Lower Mainland between Dec. 13 and 27, 2024. This includes five thefts from the Morgan Crossing location, which resulted in over $9,226 worth of clothing being stolen.
The documents indicate that TA had been in contact with Patel before and after the eight thefts.
"These patterns showed that Patel was placing orders with TA on what to steal, TA was then going out to steal Lululemon merchandise, TA was then communicating back to Patel confirming that the merchandise was stolen and making arrangements to sell it to Patel to be trafficked further," reads the court documents.
The police investigation in Surrey shifted its focus on Feb. 7, 2025, to Zeng, as "she appeared to be organizing trafficking stolen Lululemon property from Patel, as per the Transit Police's phone download from Patel."
During surveillance on Zeng's home, police used a radio frequency identifying device to scan, from the outside, Zeng's house and garage for any stolen items, as all Lululemon products have a "unique RFID signature embedded in the sales tag." These tags contain information about the product's location on the sales floor. If it scans as "unknown status at floor," it means that the item is no longer in the store but was not sold.
The scan revealed 17 items that were stolen from various Lululemon stores throughout the Lower Mainland. These items had been scanned as "unknown status at floor," which, by definition and according to Lululemon's asset protection specialist, meant the items were stolen.
There are currently no criminal charges against Zeng, but B.C.'s director of civil forfeiture has filed a claim to seize property, vehicles and items owned by Zeng and her husband, Jia Dai 香蕉视频直播� who co-own the South Surrey townhouse named in the claim 香蕉视频直播� that were allegedly obtained by unlawful activity.
The notice of claim was filed in the B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria on May 15, 2025.
The claim alleges that between November 2024 and March 7, 2025, the couple knowingly had trafficked property that was obtained through a crime, "possessed for the purpose of trafficking and the proceeds of property obtained by crime."
"The estimated value of the clothing, cosmetics, and other items located at the property and in the vehicle is over $175,000.00," noted the claim. "The property, vehicle, money, and gift cards have been used by the defendants to engage in unlawful activities which variously resulted in, or were likely to result in, the acquisition of property or an interest in property, or caused, or could have resulted in serious bodily harm."
The claim alleges that the home, vehicle, money and gift cards would likely be used in the future to continue to "facilitate the unlawful activity."
The defendants have 21 days to file a response to the claim after they were served. It notes that an application for judgment against the property "may be made" if they fail to respond within the allotted timeframe.
This lawsuit is still making its way through the court, with the last document filed in court on May 15.
An application was filed in Surrey provincial court on May 13 to return the stolen items to Lululemon. The application notes that the stolen items are "not required for investigation (as) no charges have been laid." The application was granted on May 20 by a justice of the peace.
