Canadian Mounties bust massive drug 'super lab' linked to transnational organized crime

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canadian police dismantled what they said Thursday is the largest, most sophisticated illicit drug “super lab” in the country.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police believe organized crime ran the operation where there was mass-production and distribution of fentanyl and methamphetamine across Canada and internationally.

Officers served search warrants last week on the drug lab in Falkland, British Columbia and associated locations in Surrey, in Metro Vancouver.

Police said they seized 54 kilograms of fentanyl, “massive” amounts of precursor chemicals, 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, and smaller amounts of cocaine, MDMA and cannabis.

They also found a total of 89 firearms, including handguns, AR-15-style rifles and submachine-guns as well as small explosive devices, ammunition, silencers, high-capacity magazines, body armor, and $500,000 Canadian (US$359,000) in cash.

Investigators said a suspect, Gaganpreet Randhawa, was arrested and is in custody facing numerous drug and firearms-related charges.

Fentanyl is a main ingredient in much of the toxic illicit drugs that have killed nearly 48,000 people across Canada between January 2016 and March 2024, according to the Canadian government.

Methamphetamine and firearms, including a .50-calibre machine gun, that were seized last week, are displayed before a news conference at Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Cocaine that was seized last week is displayed before a news conference at Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Firearms and illicit drugs seized last week are displayed as Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Supt. Stephen Lee, from left, Asst. Commissioner David Teboul, Insp. Jillian Wellard and Cpl. Arash Seyed attend a news conference at RCMP headquarters, in Surrey, British Columbia, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Firearms, illicit drugs and cash that were seized last week are displayed before a news conference at Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters, in Surrey, British Columbia, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Firearms, illicit drugs and cash that were seized last week are displayed before a news conference at Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters, in Surrey, British Columbia, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Firearms and illicit drugs seized last week are displayed before a news conference at Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) headquarters, in Surrey, British Columbia, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Firearms and illicit drugs seized last week are displayed as Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Supt. Stephen Lee, back from left, Asst. Commissioner David Teboul, Insp. Jillian Wellard and Cpl. Arash Seyed leave after a news conference at RCMP headquarters, in Surrey, British Columbia, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. The RCMP says they have dismantled "the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl and methamphetamine drug superlab in Canada," after an operation was conducted in Falkland, British Columbia, and Surrey beginning last Friday. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A grand jury in Nevada has again indicted Nathan Chasing Horse on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls, reviving a sweeping criminal case against the former “Dances with Wolves” actor.

The 21-count indictment unsealed Thursday in Clark County District Court, which includes Las Vegas, expands on his previous charges of sexual assault, lewdness and kidnapping to include charges of producing and possessing child sexual abuse materials.

It comes after more than a year of delayed court proceedings that culminated last month in the Nevada Supreme Court ordering the dismissal of Chasing Horse's original 18-count indictment. The court sided with Chasing Horse, saying in its scathing order that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process. But the court left open the possibility for charges to be refiled.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson quickly vowed to seek another indictment. Neither Wolfson nor a spokesperson for his office immediately responded Thursday to phone or emailed requests for comment.

Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.

After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse began propping himself up as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies.

Prosecutors said his position in the community granted him access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest last January near Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since.

Chasing Horse's arrest reverberated around Indian Country. Law enforcement in the U.S. and Canada quickly followed up with more criminal charges, saying that his arrest helped corroborate long-standing allegations against him, including on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana where tribal leaders had banished Chasing Horse in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.

Authorities in Alberta, Canada, have acknowledged that their case is largely symbolic. Chasing Horse — who faces decades in a Nevada prison if convicted — might not ever return to Canada.

“At the end of the day,” Sgt. Nancy Farmer of the Tsuut’ina Nation Police Service has said, “it is important for us to have these warrants in the system so our victims know they’ve been heard. It’s extremely important that we continue to support them that way.”

In Las Vegas, Chasing Horse had pleaded not guilty to the original charges. His new lawyer didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment, and his former public defender, Kristy Holston, said she had no comment on the new indictment.

The latest indictment also accuses Chasing Horse of filming himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. Prosecutors say the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.

When the Nevada Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of Chasing Horse's initial indictment, the judges said they were not weighing in on his guilt or innocence, calling the allegations against him serious. But the court said that prosecutors improperly provided the grand jury with a definition of grooming without expert testimony, and faulted them for withholding from the grand jury inconsistent statements made by one of his accusers.

Chasing Horse's legal issues have been unfolding at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the U.S. are funneling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and murders.

FILE - Nathan Chasing Horse sits in Las Vegas court, April 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Ty O'Neil, File)