Sole Suspect in RCMP Takedown of Canada’s Largest Super Lab Pleads Guilty

British Columbia RCMP investigators take down a drug “super lab” in Falkland, B.C., on Oct. 25, 2024. RCMP photo

The only suspect arrested after the RCMP announced two years ago it had shut down the “largest and most sophisticated” drug-manufacturing facility in Canadian history has pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa pleaded guilty in court last week to several drug-trafficking and firearms-related charges in connection with the October 2024 RCMP take-down of a fentanyl and methamphetamines “super lab” in Falkland, B.C.

The RCMP has tied the lab to a major transnational organized crime group working in the province, but Singh Randhawa is the only person to have been charged so far.

Pacific Region RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said at the time that officers seized “a record number” of synthetic drugs, and precursor chemicals for drug production that could have resulted in 95.5 million potentially fatal doses of fentanyl.

Singh Randhawa was arrested the same day and appeared in court last week to answer to several charges. 

He entered a guilty plea for attempting to smuggle 310 kilograms of meth to the Philippines and also confessed that he transported boxes filled with meth to a Richmond shipping company called Manila Cargo Express in September and October 2024. The boxes were intended for the Southeast Asia market.

Singh Randhawa also pleaded guilty to possessing meth, as well as fentanyl, carfentanil, cocaine, and MDMA both in his vehicle as well as at a stash site in Surrey and admitted to having a banned semi-automatic Glock along with ammunition while being subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition.

There was no reference in court of the Falkland super lab that was dismantled by the RCMP in October 2024, nor was it mentioned that Singh Randhawa’s subsequent arrest was tied to the investigation. 

But federal prosecutor Xiaoshan Zheng told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray that Singh Randhawa became a person of interest to the RCMP when its federal and serious organized crime section launched an investigation in April 2024.

No one else has been charged in connection with the super lab takedown, but RCMP have said the matter remains under investigation.

A lawsuit has been launched in connection with the case, however. B.C.’s director of civil forfeiture filed suit in early 2025 against Michel Driehuyzen, the owner of the Falkland property. 

The claim stated that Driehuyzen, a resident of Abbotsford, used illegal funds to purchase the 66-hectare property located at 5011 Hoath Rd. and was aware, or should have been aware, of how the property was being used.

Driehuyzen replied in a notice of civil claim that he purchased the property in Falkland using savings from his job. He asserted he was merely the landlord and did not engage in or consent to “any unlawful activity at the property.”

Singh Randhawa was named as a co-defendant in the filings but has yet to file a statement of defence in the ongoing case.

Singh Randhawa remains in custody pending sentencing. Murray agreed to postpone his sentencing until the new year because pretrial custody would make it easier for him to have family visits during the holiday season.