Sleepy little Falkland, B.C., awakes to big news of superlab drug bust
CBC
Residents of sleepy Falkland, B.C., are still wrapping their heads around the news that their tiny town was home to what police have described as the largest and most sophisticated drug superlab in Canada.
On Thursday, the RCMP announced it had busted the lab operation. CBC News has learned it was located on a remote 66-hectare property on Hoath Road.
Investigators seized 54 kilograms of fentanyl, a large volume of precursor chemicals, 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, 35 kilograms of cocaine, 15 kilograms of MDMA, six kilograms of cannabis, along with 89 firearms, including handguns, Ar-15-style rifles and submachine guns.
Mike Warren, who moved to Falkland only a few weeks ago, calls it a "drive-thru town" and likened the drug bust to a scene out of Breaking Bad.
"This is a quaint, quiet and low-key little village," he said. "It's kinda a surprise."
Falkland sits on Highway 97 between much larger Kamloops and Vernon. The unincorporated community has fewer than 1,000 residents and is best known for its giant hillside Canadian flag and annual Falkland Stampede.
Janice and Kevin Evans manage the Falkland Faith Mission Retreat Centre, located just down the road from where the drug lab was raided.
According to the couple, police carried out a major raid on the same property approximately 10 years ago — before marijuana was legalized — shutting down a large grow operation. The Evans said the damaged greenhouses shown in the police-issued photos were previously used to grow marijuana.
"When things were legalized, we just thought [the property owners] were carrying on under the law," said Kevin Evans. "It is surprising to see that they have grown it up much bigger and much more serious."
According to Janice Evans, Falkland is appealing to some for its remoteness.
"A lot of people live here because it's private," she said. "You don't need building permits."
A search of the drug lab property also uncovered small explosive devices, large amounts of ammunition, firearm silencers, high-capacity magazines, body armour, and $500,000 in cash, according to RCMP.
Related searches in other locations resulted in the seizure of another 310 kilograms of methamphetamine destined for international markets, they said.
Only one man has been arrested so far. According to court records, Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa is facing seven criminal drugs and weapons charges for alleged offences in Surrey and Richmond.
Businesses in Edmonton don’t have to recycle or compost — but that could soon change.
A day after two elderly Vancouver Island women told RCMP they had been scammed for thousands of dollars, a man walked into the detachment saying he took their money during his delivery work and was unsure if what he was doing was legal.
Schools across the Hamilton, Niagara, Burlington and Brantford areas are closed today after the area was hit with a winter storm overnight.
All school buses in Windsor and Essex County are cancelled on Thursday morning according to Windsor-Essex Student Transportation Services.
Newly released court documents in the case of Jack and Lilly Sullivan offer more details on the relationship between their mother and stepfather leading up to the children's disappearance more than eight months ago.
Another sawmill in northwestern Ontario is being shut down indefinitely.
Heavy snow throughout the Greater Toronto Area is forcing residents to rethink their Thursday morning schedules due to transit delays and a number of school closures.
Pack your patience and bundle up because Thursday is going to be a snowy and cold day in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County.
An N.W.T. judge has ruled that a complicated dispute involving Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) and the accounting firm KPMG should mostly be heard in open court, and not through a separate arbitration process.
In military deterrence lingo, what we're witnessing in Greenland is sometimes referred to as the "glass plate" or the "tripwire."
Canada's top court is hearing final arguments on Thursday in a case resurfacing former prime minister Justin Trudeau's role in the WE Charity scandal, which could bring sweeping changes to how Canadians hold their elected officials accountable.
National home sales in Canada declined by 1.9 per cent in December compared to the same period a year earlier, according to a report published by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) on Wednesday, capping a year that saw lower interest rates but heightened economic anxiety.
Ontario sent a blunt message to U.S. booze suppliers when it yanked their alcohol off its shelves last year, pledging to redirect customers to local producers, and those businesses say they’re trying to make the most of what could be a limited-time opportunity to change buying habits.