EDMONTON, AB – Police have dismantled what they say was a “fentanyl superlab” here in southern Alberta.
Officers with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) executed over a dozen search warrants back in early July.
They say possibly hundreds of millions of fentanyl doses have been prevented from hitting the streets.
ALERT teams searched homes and businesses in Edmonton and Calgary and then busted a massive lab in a rural location near Aldersyde, south of Okotoks.
Police seized more than 31 kilograms of fentanyl , along with 7,600 kilos of chemicals used to make the drug.
Project Essence, as it was called, covered all aspects of fentanyl production; from importation, to accumulation and stockpiling of equipment and raw chemicals, to production, and eventual distribution.
ALERT says a number of suspects have been identified and charges are pending.
One kilogram of pure fentanyl is equal to one million doses, and a lethal dose is considered to be 2 milligrams. If sold on the street, the value of the drugs seized is over $300 million, and includes:
- 13.6 kilograms of fentanyl;
- 11.9 kilograms of the fentanyl late-stage precursors 4-ANPP;
- 6.6 kilograms of synthetic opioids;
- 9.9 kilograms of methamphetamine;
- 50 litres of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid;
- 3.5 kilograms of buffing agents; and
- 7,600 kilograms of chemicals.