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Canada’s largest seizure of a compound used in the manufacture of the deadly opiate fentanyl has been hailed a lifesaver by the Alberta police task force that charged two Edmontonians.

The 102 kilograms of N-phenethyl-4-piperdinone, or NPP, a caustic chemical used in the manufacture of fentanyl, could have been used to produce an estimated 38 million pills.

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Fentanyl has killed 69 people in Alberta this year and was responsible for the overdose deaths of 274 Albertans in 2015.

“This investigation has saved many lives,” said Staff Sgt. Dave Knibbs of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams, commonly referred to as ALERT.

Project Alchemy started Oct. 22, 2015, when Canada Border Services Agency at Edmonton International Airport intercepted four cardboard barrels from China containing an unknown “chunky brown substance.”

Seven days later, analysis revealed it was NPP, but because the substance is not regulated in Canada, it was not seized and was allowed to continue to its destination. Health officials are believed to be working to regulate it.

In early December, search warrants were simultaneously executed at a residence in southeast Edmonton, a business in Red Deer County and a suspected rural fentanyl lab in Leduc County.