One of the biggest drug busts in a law enforcement agency’s history, an estimated 1 million dollars of fentanyl was retrieved by the police during the October 2nd drug bust operation, just within Valleyview Alberta.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team or ALERT along with the RCMP, conducted a search on rural property this past summer.
“This superlab location has been in continuous operation for a period of at least two years,” said Angela Kemp, Inspector at Edmonton Police Service.
According to Moms-stop-the-harm, despite putting a dent in the illegal drug activity in Western Canada. This won’t have a huge effect on addicts.
“People who are dependent on the fentanyl, who are using it all the time, they need the supply. If the supply has taken out, they seek it elsewhere,” said Petra Schulz, Co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm.
The enforcement agency seized more than 4000 litres of suspected drug ingredients, 1500 litres of chemical waste and seven kilograms of processed fentanyl, which estimated value to be a million dollars.
ALERT Seized paraphernalia
• 4,200 liters – suspected fentanyl chemical ingredients
• 1,500 liters – chemical waste used in production
• 7 kilograms – processed fentanyl
• Estimated $700,000 street value
“We believe a lab like this would produce enough fentanyl to supply the majority of Alberta, this fentanyl or anything that was produced in that lab was also being sold in the streets of Edmonton,” said Kemp.
While Schulz believes in the removal of the illegal drug trade, she stands to have alternative measures to help addicts.
“By leaving the people at the mercy of the toxic street drugs, we are losing too many and the numbers keep on going in up,” said Schulz.
Stephen Mogg, a 55-year-old man from Kelowna, BC was charged with drug offences. The agency is still investigating any connection to organized crime.