Canadian authorities have dismantled what they described as the country’s largest drug laboratory, hidden in a rural part of British Columbia, seizing enough chemicals and other material to produce roughly 96 million doses of fentanyl, the country’s leading cause of overdose deaths.
For the first time in Canada, the police also found evidence of a drug production method used primarily by Mexican cartels to make opioids. The process requires a particular precursor chemical, and is often used to mass produce a potent synthetic drug know as “super meth.”
The discovery, experts say, suggests that Canadian drug dealers might be taking lessons from the cartels or that Mexican criminal groups might be operating in the country. Canadian authorities would not elaborate on potential links and said that the investigation that uncovered the drug lab was continuing.
“Our enforcement actions have dealt a decisive blow to transnational organized crime,” said David Teboul, an assistant commissioner at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the federal police force that led the investigation.
Despite the size of the operation, only one person has been charged so far in the case, and the authorities offered few details about him.
The raid offers a window into Canada’s position in the global drug trade as the authorities place an emphasis on intercepting chemical precursors illegally imported into the country, mostly from China.
The quantities started surging in the first half of 2021, when Canada’s border officers seized 5,000 kilograms of precursor chemicals, up from about 500 kilograms the year before.
Besides large quantities of drugs, the authorities also seized a cache of high-powered weapons and cash from the lab, which Commissioner Teboul described as a drug “superlab,” and connected properties.
The lab had the hallmarks of a highly complex operation with connections that extended beyond Canada, and not the work of low-level gangsters, said Calvin Chrustie, a security consultant and former senior officer with the R.C.M.P.
“Gangs are like mosquitoes in the night,” he said. “Organized crime is like a coyote. These guys are like lions. They are like 10 times more fierce and dangerous.”
“This is symbolic of the ever-increasing trajectory of transnational organized crime threats in Canada,” he added.
The person arrested in the drug lab case was identified as Gaganpreet Randhawa, whom the police called a “main suspect,” though they provided no details about his role.
Mr. Randhawa faces seven charges, including drug trafficking, importing controlled substances and possessing restricted firearms. The police did not give his age.
The lab was found in Falkland, British Columbia, a rural town of under 1,000 residents about a four-hour drive north of the U.S. border. Police believe the work of that lab is linked to another nearby facility, where the police last month seized 30 tons of precursor chemicals used to produce drugs.
Chemical imports are more highly regulated in Canada than in the United States, according to the U.S. Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking.
The discovery at the Falkland lab of chemicals used to make a precursor favored by Mexican cartels was of “particular concern,’’ Commissioner Teboul said.
Besides large quantities of fentanyl, the raid on the lab also yielded significant amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, cannabis and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
On Oct. 25, the day the lab was raided, officers searched two properties related to the investigation in Surrey, British Columbia and found about 90 weapons, half of which were handguns. They also seized a submachine gun and 21 assault rifles, all of which are illegal to purchase in Canada.
The authorities also said they had intercepted about 300 kilograms of methamphetamines, connected to the lab, that had been packed for shipment internationally. The authorities would not say where the drugs were being sent.
The illicit drug exported in the largest quantities from Canada south to the United States are methamphetamines, while cocaine flows north, according to the U.S. government.
About 2,000 people have died between January and March this year from illicit opioids in Canada, according to the latest federal public health data, down eight percent from the same period last year. British Columbia shoulders the largest burden of Canada’s drug deaths.
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