[3] In November 2000, he was arrested with his brother-in-law for possession of 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) of cocaine, in a joint operation between the Vancouver Police and the RCMP.

[3] From 1999 to 2002, he ran a fraudulent telemarketing business that targeted people in the United States, stealing approximately US$3 million from hundreds of victims, most of them elderly.

Tahvili had been represented by Canadian criminal and extradition lawyer Amandeep Singh, known for his representation of high profile and controversial international clientele such as billionaire banker fugitive Rakesh Saxena.

[5] In 2005, Tahvili discovered that Can$300,000 of his organization's drug money went missing, and suspected that a courier who worked for him stole it and fled to Vietnam.

Since July 2005, Tahvili had awaited trial in the maximum-security North Fraser Pretrial Centre in British Columbia until he escaped in November 2007 after bribing a Corrections Officer named Edwin Ticne.