Man arrested in B.C. drug superlab bust once sold drugs out of his mother's car

The B.C. man arrested last week in the drug superlabraid that yielded almost half a tonne of methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine pleaded guilty eight years ago to selling drugs out of his mother's car.

Gaganpreet Singh Randhawa was 23 years old in 2016 when he was arrested in Burnaby for dial-a-dope trafficking.

During sentencing in 2017, he told the judge he tried to leave the drug business but was threatened with death by his unnamed bosses.

"When I was about a month into selling drugs, I felt really bad about what I was doing to other people," he said in court audio recordings obtained by CBC."I said I don't want to do it, and they kept telling me pretty much that if you don't, we'll kill you."

Randhawa told the judge he even found someone to take over his dial-a-dope job, but they only lasted one day.

"I tried to replace myself ... so I thought I was in the clear. But he ended up running off, so I got stuck back there again. I didn't really have a choice."

WATCH | RCMP reveal drug 'superlab' bust:

RCMP bust drug superlab, seize $485M in fentanyl and meth

5 days ago

Duration 2:02

B.C. RCMP say officers have taken down Canadas largest, most sophisticated drug superlab. Police seized drugs and drug materials worth almost half a billion dollars.

Fast forward to 2024, where Randhawa, now 32, is facing seven charges related to the raid in Falkland, B.C., which RCMP describe as the largest and most sophisticated drug superlab in Canada.

The lab is connected to a transnational crime group, according to police,that wasmass-producingfentanyl and methamphetamine for distribution in Canada and internationally. They said thedrugs and chemicals seized equal more than 95 million doses and are worth close to half a billion dollars.

Randhawa has been described as a "main suspect." He is facing seven charges for alleged offences that took place in Surrey and Richmond, including possessionfor trafficking and export, illegal firearms and unlawful possession of explosives.

In 2017, Randhawa's lawyer in the Burnaby dial-a-dope case told the court that his client's arrest ended up being his ticket out of the drug trade because he was "heated out," meaning Randhawa became too much of a risk because he was known to police.

In order to pay off his debt from thedrugs seized by Burnaby police, his lawyer saidRandhawahad his mother sign over her car, which he then handed over to his bosses.

Hislawyer said Randhawa had studied to be a tax preparer but found the field wasn't for him.

In 2017, he received a sentence of 90 days in jail to be served intermittently on weekends and was banned from having firearms for 10 years.