RCMP shuts down massive BC drug ‘superlab’

Assistant RCMP Commissioner David Teboul announced Thursday the seizure Thursday and described the factory as a “superlab” that contained sufficient amounts of fentanyl and its attendant chemicals to create more than 95.5 million street doses of the drug. “The 95,500,000 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl that have been seized, could have taken the lives of every Canadian, at least twice over. Not only has this enforcement action potentially saved over 95 million lives, it has also served to deny this transnational organized crime group an estimated $485 million dollars in profit,” Teboul said in a statement.

Police found about 118 lbs. (54 kg) of fentanyl and 858 lbs. (390 kg) of methamphetamine as well as “massive amounts of precursor chemicals” alongside smaller batches of cocaine, MDMA and cannabis at the lab in Falkland, BC, a small and relatively isolated community. The RCMP believe the warehouse was fueling a massive increase in the production and trafficking of fentanyl and methamphetamine.

The police raid also prevented a shipment of meth prepared at the lab for shipment to international drug dealers. The RCMP worked with the Canada Border Services Agency to stop 682 lbs. (310 kg) from leaving the country for foreign dispersal, according to Teboul. The RCMP revealed that the lab was using the same system of drug production that is used by Mexican cartels, saying that it is the first instance of the method that they have seen in Western Canada and noting this to be a problem “of particular concern.”

The case highlights how the epidemic of opioid deaths that continue to plague the United States is not entirely fueled by Mexico or drug cartels at the southern border. Clearly, Canadian drug producers are contributing to the problem.

Police also seized 89 firearms – nine of these stolen – small explosives, ammunition, suppressors, large capacity magazines, body armor and $500,000 CAD. The RCMP identified the primary suspect as Gaganpreet Randhawa, who was arrested and charged with a host of drug and gun-related offenses.

Despite the emergence of supervised injection sites across Canada where addicts can use illegal drugs under a medical professional’s watch, overdoses in both BC and Canada have reached record numbers since 2016.