Police seize 7 kg of processed fentanyl from rural property in northern Alberta

Police say a large drug bust at a rural property in northern Alberta this fall has disrupted what investigators believe was a “superlab” that had become “a significant source of fentanyl in Alberta and Western Canada” in recent years.

Officials with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team held a news conference in Edmonton on Friday to talk about what happened when its personnel and members of the RCMP’s clandestine laboratory enforcement response team executed a search warrant at a property outside of Valleyview, Alta.

“This may be one of the most important investigations in the history of ALERT,” said Insp. Angela Kemp with ALERT Edmonton.

“I say that because we understand and know the consequences of fentanyl and how tragically it has harmed our communities and how we’ve all paid the price.”

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To take down the alleged drug lab, ALERT said about 70 people were deployed to the site, including police officers and other emergency personnel, scientists and analysts. The search warrant was executed on Oct. 2 and ALERT said four days were spent searching the property and dismantling the alleged operation.

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The search yielded the seizure of seven kilograms of processed fentanyl, 4,200 litres of suspected fentanyl precursor chemicals and 1,500 litres of chemical waste used in production. Police also seized a significant amount of lab equipment and have since destroyed it.

“The lab equipment included rotary evaporators, large reaction vessels, chillers, industrial mixers and numerous beakers, flasks and scales,” ALERT said in a news release.

“The processed fentanyl seized has an estimated street value of $700,000. With two milligrams of fentanyl considered to be a potentially lethal dose, one kilogram of fentanyl has the theoretical yield of 500,000 fatal doses.”

ALERT said that at the time the search warrant was being executed, they believe an “active fentanyl production was taking place.” Officers arrested a 55-year-old man. Stephen Mogg, of Kelowna, B.C., has been charged with production of a controlled substance and possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.

According to ALERT, investigators believe the drug production had been taking place at the site for at least two years and that it had been “potentially producing multi-kilogram quantities of fentanyl per cook cycle, with each cycle taking approximately seven to eight days.”

ALERT noted that investigators believe the site was linked to an organized crime group operating in Western Canada that they allege is involved in drug production, chemical importation and wholesale distribution.

The broader investigation into the alleged operations is ongoing, ALERT said.