5 years in prison for B.C. man who sold stolen gun to undercover cop

A statue of Themis, Goddess of Justice, in the B.C. Supreme Court building in downtown Vancouver on June 26, 2024 (Zak Vescera / Investigative Journalism Foundation and CTV News)

A man who stole 15 firearms by sawing into a gun safe at a B.C. home and later sold one of the weapons to an undercover cop has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Li Fu Alex Ni was one of three men who broke into a home on Broadmoor Street in Richmond in August of 2020 and stole the guns as well as “high‑end purses, designer jewellery, and watches, and a significant amount of cash,” according to a decision posted online Tuesday.

Roughly three months later, Li sold the firearm – a Simonov SKS semiautomatic rifle – to an undercover officer for $3,000, the decision said.

He was convicted of one count of break-and-enter and theft of a firearm and one count of trafficking in firearms after a trial earlier this year.

According to Justice Peter H. Edelmann’s sentencing decision, Ni told the jury that at trial that he was an unwitting participant in the break-and-enter and theft.

“Mr. Ni and the two others spent over eight hours breaking into the residence and making numerous trips to and from the residence to Mr. Ni’s residence,” the judge wrote.

“Mr. Ni admitted in his testimony that he was at the Broadmoor residence and assisted in moving items out of the residence over the course of the day. He sought to minimize his involvement and testified that he thought he was helping someone move.”

The judge also rejected this explanation when handing down his sentence, finding that Ni was an “active participant” in the crimes.

The evidence, according to Edelmann, suggested that the gun safe was something the trio of thieves discovered after they broke into the home. A receipt from Rona on the day of the break-in was found in Ni’s car, showing the purchase of an angle grinder and sawblades. Surveillance video also showed Ni entering his home and leaving with a tool bag on one of the many trips he made to and from the scene of the crime.

“The theft of the firearms appears to have been a crime of opportunity,” the judge wrote.

The sentencing decision does not provide many details about the undercover operation that resulted in the sale of the firearm – but it does offer a glimpse.

“In an initial conversation on the topic, Mr. Ni said that he had two rifles and a handgun, showed the undercover officer photographs of them on his phone. The undercover officer asked Mr. Ni if they were wiped. Mr. Ni replied that they had been grinded and that there was no blood on them. I accept this was meant to convey that the serial numbers had been removed and they had not been used in a shooting or homicide,” the decision said.

“Throughout the undercover operation, Mr. Ni sought to present himself as a well‑connected and knowledgeable gangster. He sold the SKS rifle to an undercover officer who portrayed himself as being connected to organized crime groups in Ontario who required weapons because they were engaged in active conflict.”

The sentencing decision also indicated that Ni alleged the undercover operation was entrapment and a violation of his Charter rights and sought to have the charges stayed on those grounds.

At an earlier hearing – for which no documents are publicly available – Edelmann dismissed the entrapment claim, finding Ni “initiated” discussions about selling guns and was an “active and willing participant” in the sale of the rifle.

The judge did find that Ni’s rights were violated at one point in the investigation, when he was left handcuffed to a bar on the wall in the police station for 30 minutes “while the pretense of booking in the undercover officer was carried out.”

Detaining Ni for that amount of time in that manner was, the judge found, a violation of his rights.

This “state misconduct” led Edelmann to reduce Ni’s overall sentence by six months. After credit for time served, the sentence amounted to four years and 230 days.