BURST
A week after B.C.’s latest fentanyl super lab was uncovered on a Chilliwack farm, police and a specialized cleanup crew remain at the site.
On Thursday, Postmedia observed a flat deck truck hauling away some of the chemicals from the clandestine lab at 44843B South Sumas Rd.
Sonny Ghag, the father of property owner Robbie Ghag, told Postmedia outside the main house that he knew nothing about the tenants who rented the outbuildings next door that are on the same 14 hectare parcel of land.
“Mom was dealing with everything. She just passed away,” he said, adding that the renters would have been there for at least a few months, but he doesn’t know exactly how long. “I couldn’t say because I wasn’t involved.”
He said the RCMP called him up last week and told him they had a search warrant for the rented property, separated from the Ghag family home by a tall hedge and yard area.
“They said that they had a search warrant, and I haven’t seen it. I told them there’s no reason for me to see it — the search warrant — and to fly at it,” Ghag said.
RCMP Sgt. Alexandra Mulvihill confirmed in an email that the specialized clandestine laboratory enforcement and response team remains on the site.
She said an update on the investigation will likely be provided next week.
In an earlier release Mulvihill said that several search warrants — including one at the South Sumas clandestine lab — were obtained in connection with an “ongoing drug trafficking and production investigation.”
Justin Tyler Fauth, 35, and Carlos Balbino Martinez, 37, were arrested leaving the property and are facing charges. Their vehicles were seized.
Both were described as “key suspects involved in the distribution of fentanyl in the Chilliwack area.”
The lab, which appeared to be in a large barn-shaped building with a green metal roof, was producing fentanyl and MDMA. In addition to seizing finished fentanyl, police found “significant quantities of precursor chemicals and equipment,” Mulvihill said.
Chilliwack MP Mark Strahl said in a statement that as far as he is concerned “making and selling fentanyl is mass murder, and the penalty should be the same.”
“Thank you to law enforcement officers for their work in shutting down this dangerous drug lab and protecting our community,” he said.
Farm properties line South Sumas, some with roadside stands selling flowers, vegetables and eggs.
Neither Fauth nor Martinez have any criminal record in B.C. Both men are due in Abbotsford provincial court Oct. 16 for a bail hearing.
As of February 2024, Fauth was listed in corporate records as a director of an Abbotsford vitamin and supplement store called Edge Nutrition, which is now closed.
Greg Campbell, owner of Edge Nutrition in Chilliwack, said his store has nothing to do with Fauth. But he said he had met Fauth previously at the Abbotsford store after its owner died.
“I know him from him working at the Abbotsford store,” Campbell said. “I went over a little bit and helped him out. He was a nice enough guy. He was quite impassioned about health and wellness.”
Campbell said “everybody’s surprised” about the arrest and the discovery of the fentanyl lab.
“Everybody’s kind of taken aback,” he added.
Police have uncovered an increasing number of so-called super labs across B.C. over the past year, including the largest-ever in Falkland in October 2025. So far, just one man, Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa, has been charged in connection with the Falkland lab, which was producing fentanyl, methamphetamine and MDMA.
The B.C. government has filed lawsuits to have several of the lab properties forfeited, including the one in Falkland at 5011 Hoath Road.
Other labs have been shut down in Spallumcheen, Aldergrove, Pitt Meadows and Mission. The latter three all had “commercial-grade chemistry equipment,” RCMP Chief Supt. Stephen Lee said at the time.
The latest report from Criminal Intelligence Service Canada noted that the number of organized crime groups involved in manufacturing synthetic drugs almost doubled between 2023 and 2024 from 51 to 99. The report also said that of those groups, a third “are also involved in importing, highlighting the dependence of acquiring precursors chemicals from other source countries (primarily China) to domestically produce fentanyl and methamphetamine.”
Blueksy: @kimbolan.bsky.social