"Executive” level involvement with a fentanyl super lab near Okotoks netted an Edmonton man a lengthy jail term on Tuesday.
Jonathan Loyie was handed a 16-year sentence at Court of King's Bench in Edmonton on Jan. 28 for his part in an extensive drug manufacturing operation.
Loyie and nine others were charged in 2022 after the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) uncovered the massive drug lab in Aldersyde the year before.
Loyie was charged with 30 offences but plead guilty to conspiracy to produce fentanyl, money laundering, possession of chemical precursor for the purpose of trafficking, and weapons charges, including possession of a firearm with the serial number removed.
The size of the operation and the extreme danger posed by fentanyl and other chemicals found played a role in the sentencing decision, prosecutor Courtney Mah told the Western Wheel.
During sentencing, the magnitude of the drug operation was described as “staggering,” and Loyie was identified as an “executive member.”
Mitigating factors were also considered, including the fact that Loyie plead guilty and experienced intergenerational trauma and dislocation as an Indigenous person.
Dubbed Project Essence, the ALERT investigation began in February 2021 when police learned of attempts to import 563 kilograms of a chemical used to make fentanyl.
More than 31 kilograms of fentanyl and its precursors, and 7,600 kilograms of chemicals used in fentanyl production, were recovered with an estimated street value topping $300 million.
The fentanyl and precursor chemicals recovered could have produced hundreds of millions of fentanyl doses, according to ALERT and Heath Canada estimates.
Over 10 kilograms of isotonitazene, a synthetic opioid believed to be more potent than fentanyl, was also seized, and it was the largest seizure of its kind in North America.
In addition to the Aldersyde lab, police searched homes and businesses in Calgary and Edmonton during the investigation, seizing 19 guns, $25,000 in cash and jewellery, and other proceeds of crime.
