One week after busting the biggest drug lab in B.C.’s history, police are calling the province a leader in drug production.
Insp. Brian Cantera of the RCMP’s national drug enforcement branch introduced the term “super lab” at a news conference yesterday while standing next to eight bags of colourful ecstasy tablets discovered while executing a search warrant on a Richmond barn last Friday.
“A super lab is a clandestine lab which is capable of producing more than five kilograms of finished synthetic drugs,” said Cantera.
He added that inside the barn, located at 21880 River Rd., police discovered more than 100 kilograms of “pure, crystallized ecstasy product” — enough to fill 14 detergent-sized buckets — and an estimated one million pressed tablets.
There were also two fully automated pill presses that were capable of producing 8,000 to 12,000 pills each in an hour, various chemicals used in making drugs, explosive devices and nine fully automatic weapons.
On Monday, police executed a search warrant on a second home in Richmond, this time at 8440 Odlin Cres., where they discovered explosives and a marijuana grow operation. About 10 homes were evacuated for a few hours as a safety precaution.
They say the two raids are connected.
Five people — Richard and Miranda Suzick, Robert and Sylvete Rahn and John Rahberger — were arrested in connection with the River Road raid and appeared in court yesterday.
Police attended to 48 drug labs and dump sites in 2007.
