Officers and Health Canada representatives donned hazmat suits to collect samples and evidence of a meth lab in Barnhartvale.

(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)

POLICE SAID IT WAS THE LARGEST METH LAB EVER DISCOVERED IN KAMLOOPS

KAMLOOPS - Three men are facing numerous charges after Kamloops RCMP busted a major drug ring including a meth lab in a rural area of the city last summer.

Ikbal Shah, Joel Eric Garrett and Derek Jordan Sadden were all formally charged yesterday, Feb. 3, in relation to raids at two different properties in the city, including the meth lab located at a home in Barnhartvale.

On June 24, 2015, police used a search warrant to enter a property on Pratt Road where investigators discovered the sophisticated lab in the garage.

Garrett and Sadden are both charged with possessing methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking and producing methamphetamine.

Garrett faces additional gun-related charges for allegedly possessing two shotguns and a pump action .22 calibre rifle.

RCMP at the time called it a ‘super lab’ because of its size, considered the largest of its kind discovered in Kamloops. An investigator said each batch of meth cooked in the lab was able to produce roughly 60,000 hits.

Takedown of the production took officers and Health Canada representatives clad in hazmat suits a number of days. They were concerned about exposure to several of the chemicals and an added risk of a chemically-caused explosion.

Police said the raid of the meth lab was linked to a raids in Valleyview earlier that month. The search of the Valleyview home on June 4, 2015 turned up two pounds of cocaine, a half-pound of meth, an ounce and a half of heroin, 758 oxycontin tablets and other drug trafficking paraphernalia.

Shah faces trafficking charges and is accused of possessing fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The three men are expected to make a first appearance in Kamloops Provincial Court March 3, 2016.

None of the men are currently in custody. 

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was corrected at 8:56 a.m., Feb. 5, 2016. An earlier version of this story said a raid of a home in Westsyde was connected to the meth lab. That raid was for a separate investigation and this story was corrected to reflect that fact. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2016