Photos courtesy ALERT

By Erika Rolling

ALERT

Fentanyl superlab busted in Valleyview

Nov 8, 2024 | 1:07 PM

One suspect has been charged in an alleged superlab that police say was creating bulk quantities of fentanyl.

The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team found the lab in a rural location around Valleyview on October 2, 2024.

It took four days for ALERT and the RCMP’s Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement Response Team to search the property and dismantle the highly sophisticated drug making operation.

Approximately 70 police officers, scientists, analysts, and other emergency personnel were involved in the takedown of the lab location.

As a result of the search, authorities seized:

• seven kilograms of processed fentanyl
• 4,200 liters of suspected fentanyl precursor chemicals
• 1,500 liters of chemical waste used in production

Industrial grade and specialized lab equipment, estimated to be worth tens of thousands of dollars, was also seized and destroyed. It included items like rotary evaporators, large reaction vessels, chillers, industrial mixers, and numerous beakers, flasks, and scales.

The processed fentanyl seized has an estimated street value of $700,000. Two milligrams of fentanyl is considered to be a potentially lethal dose for humans; with one kilogram theoretically yielding half a million fatal doses.

ALERT believes the lab was in use continuously over the period of at least two years, and potentially produced multi-kilogram quantities of fentanyl per cook cycle that would have taken seven to eight days each. It is also believed that production of fentanyl was in progress when the search took place.

A 55-year-old Kelowna man, Stephen Mogg was the one person arrested at the time of the search of the lab. He is alleged to be the “cook” of the operation.

Mogg has been charged with production of a controlled substance and possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.

ALERT also believes this superlab is connected to a larger interprovincial organized crime group in Western Canada that is not only producing drugs, but also importing chemicals and distributing them wholesale. The investigation is ongoing.