Trial for accused fentanyl dealer begins in Yellowknife

A Yellowknife man will stand trial on Monday on charges that he trafficked fentanyl in the N.W.T. capital.

In December 2016, Darcy Oake, then 22, was charged withdrug trafficking and criminal negligence causing bodily harm in connection with the discovery of furanyl fentanyl at a Borden Drive home.

Furanyl fentanylis an opioidsimilar tofentanyl. At the time, police said it was the first time that type of drug had been found in the territory.

Specialists from the Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Responseteams in British Columbia and Alberta were flown in to help with the search of the home.

The arrest came after a series of near-fatal drug overdoses in the city. RCMP said it could not link the overdoses with the seizure, but said there was a "suspected drug-related event at the residence."

Around the time of the drug seizure on Borden Drive, theCanada Border Services Agency seized a package from China at itsmail processing plant in Vancouver destined for Yellowknife that containedfuranyl fentanyl, which RCMP believed was linked to the investigation.

Oake will be tried by a judge alone in the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories on Monday. The trial is scheduled to take 10 days.