Owner of Edmonton lab equipment company pleads guilty in fentanyl ‘super lab’ case

Another conspirator in a sprawling Alberta fentanyl production scheme has pleaded guilty, admitting he imported chemicals and lab equipment from China.

Christopher Loyie was in Edmonton Court of King’s Bench Friday to plead guilty to counts of conspiracy to manufacture fentanyl, money laundering and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

His pleas — two months after his brother, Jonathan Loyie, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the scheme — shed additional light on the “super lab” that prosecutors say was one of the largest on record in Canada. 

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Loyie, who owned a laboratory equipment company, was one of 10 people charged in 2022 after the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) uncovered a “super lab” in Foothills County, south of Calgary.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the investigation into the clandestine lab began in January 2021 after ALERT and Canada Border Services Agency noticed a man identified as “Individual #1” importing hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl precursor chemicals from China. The chemicals were enough to produce an estimated 485 to 770 kg of the deadly opioid.

When Individual #1 ordered 563 kg of benzene, police installed a tracking device on the shipment. Individual #1 and two other men collected the chemicals from Vancouver and drove them to Christopher Loyie’s business, located in a commercial building with warehouse bays near 39 Avenue and 97 Street.

The business, CL Lab Equipment Ltd., was registered in 2019. In August 2020, it imported a shipment of lab equipment from a Chinese company, including two glass reactors, two heating bath circulators, a rotary evaporator and a vacuum filter.

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The group also rented a pair of storage lockers to store chemicals. Police eventually obtained warrants to enter the properties covertly and install cameras and listening devices. One of the devices picked up “the group discussing drug trafficking, drug production, the importation of chemicals and firearms possession,” the agreed facts state.

As the investigation went on, the group was surveilled loading cargo trailers and moving chemicals and equipment to the Calgary area. On four occasions, Loyie met with a driver who took the items to a shop in the southern Alberta hamlet of Aldersyde and later the lab in Foothills County.

The investigation ended on July 7, 2021, when police raided eight locations in Edmonton and four in southern Alberta. Loyie, who had remained in Edmonton, was arrested leaving his home.

Police seized a few kilograms of fentanyl and a variety of chemicals from the lab, as well as a pistol with its serial number removed. They also found protective equipment and naloxone kits, which are used to reverse overdoses.

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Additional items were seized from Loyie’s business, including lab equipment, scales, and wire payment receipts from Loyie to ENCH Industry Ltd., a Chinese company.

Bank records showed the group transferred over $85,000 to ENCH during the investigation, with Loyie contributing nearly $25,000. They also spent $126,000 on the Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba.

Loyie admitted to laundering over $86,000 through his personal bank account, $70,000 of which came from cash deposits. He also admitted to possessing isotonitazene, a synthetic opioid.

Loyie, who remains on bail, sat in the prisoner’s box Friday wearing a jacket over a collared shirt. He spoke only to confirm to Justice Kent Teskey that he understands the consequences of his guilty pleas.

Sentencing is scheduled to take place in September. In the meantime, a Gladue report will be prepared to consider the role Loyie’s background as an Indigenous person played in his offending.

Several of Loyie’s co-accused still have cases before the courts.

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His brother Chad Loyie’s case remains outstanding, with no dates set for trial. Jesse Deranger is also awaiting trial, along with two others, set to begin proceedings in May.

In addition to Jonathan Loyie, two others have already had trials: Graham Thomas was acquitted while Dakota Hogg was found guilty and given a conditional sentence order.

According to ALERT, all 10 co-accused lived in either Edmonton or Okotoks.

Jonathan Loyie was sentenced just days after U.S. President Donald Trump took office and began assailing Canada as a source of illicit fentanyl. The claims were used to justify a national emergency, giving the White House power to impose tariffs on Canadian imports.

Canada’s fentanyl “czar” says that between 2022 and 2024, fentanyl seizures by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the Canada-U.S. border accounted for less than .1 per cent of total U.S. fentanyl seizures.

After Jonathan Loyie’s case concluded, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada issued a news release highlighting the sentence — one of the few times the prosecution service has done so in a drug production case.

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jwakefield@postmedia.com

x.com/jonnywakefield 

@jonnywakefield.bsky.social

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