Watch above: Police say their latest drug bust has all but shut down Alberta’s illegal steroids supply. Fletcher Kent has more on the $9 million seizure.
EDMONTON — The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team has made the largest illegal steroid seizure in Canadian history.
The roughly $9.3 million bust includes over 360,000 pills, 10,000 vials and more than three dozen types of chemicals, some of which investigators are still working to identify.
“We believe this has shut down the sale of steroids in Alberta significantly,” said Darcy Strang with ALERT.
He adds that this was one of the most prominent steroid manufacturers in the province, allegedly producing two different “brands” of steroids: USP (Underground Steroid Pharmaceuticals) — a lower-grade option, and Ikonic.
“Anybody who uses or knows about steroids, they’re very familiar with that.”
Investigators believe the drugs were also being distributed across the country, with some shipments going all the way to St. John’s, Newfoundland.
The lengthy investigation came to a head on September 25, when officers raided two storage lockers in Edmonton and three homes.
They found about 100 barrels of chemicals in one of the lockers.
One of the homes — located in northeast Edmonton, just metres away from an elementary school — had a full-blown steroids manufacturing lab valued at roughly $100,000.
“It’s pretty scary to know that, yeah, a few doors down and I have three small kids, that that big of a drug operation can be happening right there,” said area resident Amy Northrup-St. Onge. “Especially with an elementary school two doors down.”
Investigators believe air quality may have been affected in the area due to the size of the vents they seized from the home.
Watch below: A video released by ALERT on Wednesday shows the record haul made by officers
Four people have been arrested, including the target of the investigation: 40-year-old Kirk Goodkey of Edmonton, who ALERT began investigating in May.
Goodkey was convicted in B.C. on cocaine trafficking charges, which he is appealing. He also has firearms charges from an incident in Jasper.
He and three others – Parmjit Brar, 40; Jordan Quiring, 27; and Alexandria Edwards, 27, — are now each facing charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and proceeds of crime. More charges may be added, including organized crime.
“These individuals are allegedly responsible for the large, illegal, underground steroid distribution network that spans across Canada. And these investigators have literally cut the head off the snake,” said Strang.
Strang says the maximum sentence they face in this case is three years.
Four high-end vehicles and $88,000 in cash were also seized at the time of the search warrants.
Previously, the largest steroids seizure in Canada occurred in December 2008 when police in Quebec seized more than 400,000 tablets from a home just north of Montreal. The largest steroids seizure in Alberta occurred in July 2014 when Edmonton Police Service busted a $600,000 lab in Fort Saskatchewan.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
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