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Sixty kilograms of suspected ecstasy seized from apparent drug lab

Suspected lab was discovered Saturday after smoke began billowing from structure.
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Mission RCMP officers spent several days at the site of a suspected drug lab found Saturday.

The amount of suspected ecstasy seized from an apparent drug lab discovered Saturday has risen to 60 kilograms.

“It’s a large-scale operation and it’s sophisticated as well,” Staff Sgt. Rob Dixon said. “It looks like it’s been established for some time.”

Mission Fire/Rescue Service crews were called to a Horne Street building for a suspected structure fire around noon on Saturday.

Smoke was billowing out of the structure, but upon entering the building, crews found only a small fire, said Fire Chief Larry Watkinson. Most of the smoke was coming from a chemical reaction. After recognizing products commonly used in clandestine drug labs, firefighters evacuated the building and evacuated workers from several nearby businesses. The fire went out on its own, Watkinson said.

Mounties later confirmed the existence of the lab, which is suspected to have been manufacturing MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy. By Monday, Mounties had removed 20 kilograms of the suspected drug, said Dixon. Testing will be done to confirm the makeup of the product seized, and no arrests have been made yet.

Several roads in the area were closed following the discovery.

The lab was accessed through an alley connecting to Glasgow Avenue, which remained blocked for several days as investigators clad in protective suits continued to remove products from the building.

Dixon couldn’t put a value on the seizure, but following a 2012 raid in Langley, police estimated that ecstasy weighing more than 20 kilograms would fetch more than $1 million on the street.