3 people accused in one of P.E.I.'s largest drug busts to remain in jail
Police said street value of seized fentanyl, crystal meth, cocaine was about $665,000
The three people from Ontario charged after one of the biggest drug busts in P.E.I. history, involving crystal methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine, will remain in jail while their case proceeds through the courts.
Jabari London, 21; Angel Barnett, 23; and Kimberly Elbourne, 23, were arrested earlier this month in what police called a "targeted traffic stop" in Charlottetown.
Police then raided a home in Stratford and seized what they called one of the largest quantities of drugs recorded in the province: a kilogram of fentanyl, 2.8 kilograms of crystal meth and 763 grams of cocaine.
All three are facing three charges of drug trafficking related to the respective amounts seized, which police estimate could have been sold on the streets for about $665,000.
The three accused made their first appearance in a Charlottetown courtroom last week and appeared again on Thursday. The women were represented by their lawyer, while London appeared both times by video link from the provincial jail.
All three are being represented by P.E.I.'s legal aid system, but the lawyer who appeared in court Thursday told the judge a lawyer will have to be found outside the legal aid office to represent London due to a conflict of interest.
This is a regular practice in the system so that all clients can be properly represented and lawyers do not feel competing loyalties — if one client charged gives a statement implicating another one, for example.
The matters were adjourned again to April 3 for election. Because of the severity of the charges, the three accused will get a choice of whether they want their case to stay in provincial court, or have it heard in the Supreme Court of P.E.I.
Barnett, Elbourne and London are all agreeing to stay in jail voluntarily, but could request a bail hearing at any time.
Offenders are often given additional credit for the time they spend in custody before they are sentenced, amounting to a day and a half for every day.
Equal to 6 fentanyl doses for everyone on P.E.I.?
Fentanyl and other high-potency opioids have been identified as fuel for the overdose, homelessness and mental health crises seen across North America in the last decade. A Statistics Canada report on overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2024 found that fentanyl was involved in three-quarters of them.
An Island man was recently sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing 339 grams of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking. During his sentencing, the federal Crown told the court that that was enough of the drug for every Islanders to have two standard doses.
Barnett, Elbourne and London are accused of having about three times as much of the drug, which would add up to six doses of fentanyl for each of the 179,000 people on Prince Edward Island.
The seizure of 2.8 kilograms of crystal meth, a highly addictive synthetic stimulant, is also significant for P.E.I.
What was believed to be the largest seizure in the Island's history before this was in February 2023, when RCMP seized 1.6 kilograms of fentanyl from a home in Cornwall.
Charlottetown Police have said they will continue to work with police across the country to determine if this case is linked to organized crime.
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