Drug charges against controversial landlord dropped

The last of three sets of drug charges against a controversial Edmonton landlord were dropped Friday.

Abdullah Shahpreviously known as Carmen Pervez was charged withpossession ofmethamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking.

Shah and three otherswere charged after police searcheda warehouse linked to himin March 2016.

• Bail denied to controversial Edmonton landlordAbdullahShah
• Well-known Edmonton landlord charged with drug trafficking, weapons offences

On Friday,Paul Moreau, Shah's lawyer, said there were "material errors" in the search warrantsused by police.

"Something that the police officer stated as a fact in the sworn document that we were able to prove was absolutely not a fact and it was not the sort of thing there could be a mistake about," Moreau said.

"Certainly I advocated to the Crown that there was no way the court was going to find the search warrant to be valid."

Moreau said police had tunnel vision about Shah and jumped to conclusions about what he had done.

• Edmonton 'slumlord' has long criminal history, including drugs, violence

His client feels he ispersecuted by police because he's associated with a group of companies that rent homes to the hard to house, he said.

"There's been a number of community groups that have been very vocal and very active about this issue and about Mr. Shah personally," Moreau said.

Moreau said his client is "extremely relieved" by the decision to withdraw charges.