Yellowknife (May 03/06) - The federal government has moved to seize more than $6,000 in cash and gold from a Yellowknife drug-dealer who was brutally murdered almost three years ago.

The Crown attorney's office claims Justin Hai Van Vo got $4,400 in cash, three gold rings and a gold necklace as a result of his drug-dealing.

The items were seized after the 35-year-old Vo and a 16-year-old girl were arrested about 50km outside of Yellowknife in November 2002, according to court papers.

Eight months later, two fellow cocaine dealers killed Vo in a downtown crack house after he racked up an $800 debt.

His badly beaten body was dumped near the Yellowknife River Bridge and set ablaze.

A municipal worker discovered his smouldering remains later that day.

Four men were eventually convicted in connection with the murder following a sensational trial that shed light on Yellowknife's drug trade.

At the time of his death, Vo was facing several charges in connection with the November 2002 arrest, including possession for the purposes of trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime.

Staff Sgt. John Milner, the Rae-Edzo officer who arrested Vo and the teen, said in a sworn affidavit filed in the fall of 2005 that he found $4,430 parcelled into separate wads of cash, the gold jewelry, two grams of cocaine, half-a-gram of marijuana and a crack pipe.

Vo told the officer that he was ferrying the money south, Milner said in the affidavit.

Yellowknife police had called the Rae-Edzo detachment to be on the lookout for a man who had left a Range Lake Road gas station without paying for a fill-up.

Despite Vo's death in 2003, the Crown did not dismiss his charges in the hopes of seizing the cash, the gold and Vo's Honda Accord, court papers revealed. Under Canadian law, the government can seize anything used to traffic illegal narcotics.

Vo has an ex-wife and a young son. Neither has made a claim to the cash or gold, according to court documents.

The Crown's application is scheduled to go before a territorial court judge later this month.