Mounties bust drug lab after suspicious fire on Vancouver Island
Posted June 25, 2019 10:10 pm.
Last Updated June 25, 2019 10:12 pm.
VIEW ROYAL (NEWS 1130) — A drug lab on Vancouver Island has been busted by police after a suspicious fire broke out near Victoria.
Mounties were called out to help with a fire at a home in the kitchen of a basemenet unit around 9 p.m. on June 20, and the fire is suspected to have been caused by chemically extracting cannabis.
Once police searched the home, they apparently found a large scale clandestine drug lab inside that was producing shatter, a highly-concentrated form of cannabis. Shatter is illegal to buy or produce in Canada.
Police also took about 100 pounds of dried cannabis, cannabis resin and oil, shatter, as well as more than $1,000 in cash.
The drug lab included high-quality commercial grade lab equipment and a large amount of flammable and explosive materials were found on site.
The West Shore RCMP says producing shatter is dangerous.
“Producing Shatter involves the use of organic solvents which is an extremely dangerous criminal activity. The lab was in a neighbourhood bordering parks and children’s playgrounds. Further there was evidence of children living in the home,” Cst. Pollock with the West Shore RCMP says in a release.
“The Crime Reduction Unit worked with the RCMP Clandestine Lab Team to safely take down and process the scene. The investigation is on-going. A variety of charges relating to drug production and distribution under the Cannabis Act and other potential Criminal Code offences are being sought.”
A 35-year-old woman who was renting the unit burned her arms in the fire.
– With files from Taran Parmar
