An Indo-Canadian man who was arrested in 2024 for allegedly running a meth and fentanyl superlab in British Columbia has pleaded guilty to other offences that came to light during that investigation.
Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa, already charged with allegedly running the fentanyl and methamphetamine superlab, has now pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle over 300kg of the latter drug to the Philippines.
The guilty plea was entered before a British Columbia Supreme Court judge on Wednesday, the outlet Vancouver Sun reported.
“Mr Randhawa admits that between September 23, 2024, and October 23, 2024, he attempted to export 310 kilograms of methamphetamine (31 boxes containing 10 kilograms of methamphetamine each) to the Philippines,” an agreed statement of facts presented by a Federal prosecutor said.
Those activities occurred right before Randhawa was arrested on October 25, 2024, in connection with the superlab located in Falkland, BC, though that wasn’t mentioned in this particular instance.
The outlet linked the superlab to the Wolfpack alliance, a Canadian gang.
{{/usCountry}}The outlet linked the superlab to the Wolfpack alliance, a Canadian gang.
{{/usCountry}}On October 31, 2024, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP’s Federal Policing Pacific Region detachment announced it had “delivered a decisive blow to a major transnational organised crime group by dismantling the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl and methamphetamine drug superlab in Canada.”
The combined fentanyl and precursors seized at the facility in Falkland could have amounted to over 95,500,000 potentially lethal doses of fentanyl. The RCMP also raised associated locations in Surrey, BC.
Federal investigators seized 54kg of fentanyl, massive amounts of precursor chemicals, 390kg of methamphetamine, 35kg of cocaine, 15kg of MDMA, and 6kg of cannabis.
They also seized a total of 89 firearms, which included 45 handguns, 21 Ar-15-style rifles, and submachine guns; many of which were loaded and ready for use.
In a release issued at the time, RCMP said members of its Drugs and Organised Crime team became aware of several large shipments of methamphetamine that had been prepared for shipment, and destined for international export. In order to prevent the export of these major drug shipments, with assistance from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Federal investigators executed an additional series of search warrants, and seized 310 kilograms of methamphetamine prior to it departing Canada. That was the consignment mentioned on Wednesday.
Gaganpreet Randhawa was “identified as the main suspect”, arrested by Federal Policing investigators and charged with six drug, and firearms-related offences.