man linked to the United Nations gang has been charged with conspiracy to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates, the Vancouver Sun has learned.
Amir Eghtesad, 29, appeared in Vancouver provincial court Monday afternoon after being picked up Sunday evening in the case.
Judge Raymond Low remanded Eghtesad in custody until Thursday afternoon, when he is to appear in B.C. Supreme Court on a direct indictment.
Eghtesad faces a single count of conspiracy to kill the former Abbotsford, B.C., siblings and their gang associates between Jan. 1, 2008 and Feb. 17, 2009.
The latest arrest comes more than two years after several other UN gang members and associates were charged with plotting to murder the same targets.
And last January, two other UN members — Conor D’Monte and Cory Vallee — were added to the indictment but remain at large.
The UN trial is expected to begin in 2012. And while Eghtesad is facing the same charge, it is unclear if he will go to trial with the other accused in the case.
Crown Ralph Keefer said outside court that the prosecutor will consider how to proceed.
“We only just received material from the police,” Keefer said.
And lawyer Matthew Nathanson said “although the offence my client is charged with is a serious one, it is important that there not be a rush to judgment in this case.”
“My client is presumed to be innocent and I intend to vigorously defend him against this allegation in court,” Nathanson said.
Eghtesad was held Sunday night in Richmond, B.C., though no details of his arrest came out in his brief appearance.
Nathanson was granted a publication ban on submissions he made.
The arrest came a week after the eldest Bacon brother, Jonathan, was gunned down as he drove away from the Delta Grand Okanagan Resort in Kelowna, B.C., with four others, who were all wounded. No one has been charged in the murder and gang tensions remain high across the province.
In addition to Eghtesad, D’Monte and Vallee, the others charged with conspiracy to kill the Bacons are Barzan Tilli-Choli, Jon Croitoru, Daniel Russell, Karwan Saed, Dilun Heng and Yong Sung Lee. All have been in custody since their April 2009 arrest. An unindicted co-conspirator in the case is UN gang founder Clay Roueche who is serving a 30-year sentence in the U.S. for marijuana and cocaine smuggling and money laundering.
The Crown has alleged that the conspiracy came during a bloody gang war between the UN and the rival Red Scorpions, then led by the Bacon brothers.
Eghtesad has been charged with 18 driving offences over the last decade and an assault count, but nothing as serious as the charge laid Monday.
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