AS part of an ongoing multi-agency drug investigation, a search warrant was executed at a commercial warehouse located in the 1900-block of McLean Avenue in Port Coquitlam, on April 19.
On behalf of Surrey RCMP’s policing partners, Superintendent Aaron Paradis, Community Services Officer for Surrey RCMP, told the media on Thursday that inside the warehouse, police located a large illicit drug-manufacturing site containing multiple pieces of laboratory and drug manufacturing equipment. Officers also located 37 kilograms of chemicals associated to the manufacturing of pure fentanyl.
Based on the quantity of chemical precursors located, police experts estimate the potential finished yield is 26 kilograms of pure fentanyl. Police experts believe the lab was capable of producing this volume of pure fentanyl on a weekly basis. An illicit fatal street dose of fentanyl is estimated to be 2 milligrams. The seizure is approximately 13 million potentially fatal doses, which is equivalent of a fatal dose to more than two and a half times the population of British Columbia.
Due to the large size of the operation, it took three days to gather evidence and safely dismantle the lab with the assistance of the Surrey RCMP Drug Unit, the Federal RCMP Clandestine Lab Enforcement and Response Team, Lower Mainland Integrated Forensics Identification Section, Health Canada chemists, and Coquitlam RCMP.
“This investigation is a prime example of effective multi-jurisdiction cooperation,” said Paradis. “We will continue to coordinate with our policing partners to confront organized crime and gang activity at every opportunity.”
He said this drug and chemical seizure has dealt a multi-million-dollar blow to organized crime and gangs in BC, helping attack the income sources of those who put our communities at risk with drug trafficking; and the gang violence that accompanies it.
Charges have not yet been laid in this file; however, this investigation is ongoing.
Help keep the community safe: if you have information on drug trafficking or gang activity, contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or Crime Stoppers, if you wish to remain anonymous, at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca
