PEI·UpdatedWhen Zachary Sullivan was arrested in November 2024, police found a large amount of fentanyl and cocaine in his possession, as well as drug paraphernalia, three cellphones and about $4,500 in cash.Zachary Sullivan was arrested as police seized drugs, cash and phones in late 2024Nicola MacLeod · CBC News · Posted: Sep 09, 2025 4:02 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes agoCharlottetown Police officers seized 225 grams of fentanyl, 251 grams of cocaine, three cellphones, approximately $4,500 cash and other drug trafficking related paraphernalia as Zachary Sullivan was arrested in November 2024. (Charlottetown Police Services)A 23-year-old man from Vancouver has pleaded guilty after being arrested last fall for having a relatively large quantity of cocaine and fentanyl and intending to sell it to people believed to be street-level dealers around the Charlottetown area. Zachary Emmanuel Sullivan appeared in person in P.E.I. Supreme Court in Charlottetown Tuesday afternoon to plead guilty to two charges: possession of fentanyl for the purposes of trafficking and possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. It all connects back to a Charlottetown Police operation that was monitoring Sullivan and other people in his circle in the months leading up to his November 2024 arrest.According to an agreed statement of facts read in court by the federal Crown, Charlottetown officers began investigating a group of suspected drug traffickers hailing from Moncton, N.B., who were thought to have had people on the ground in P.E.I. in the summer of 2024.In September, police received a “confidential tip” that the group was back on the Island and selling fentanyl and cocaine. Fentanyl is 20 to 40 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, making the risk of accidental overdose very high, according to Health Canada.Young man from Vancouver pleads guilty to selling fentanyl laced with benzodiazepine on P.E.I.Zachary Sullivan, 23, entered his guilty pleas on Tuesday. The court heard police started watching him after receiving a tip that a trafficking group with ties to New Brunswick was back on the ground in Charlottetown. CBC’s Nicola MacLeod explains.Police believed the Moncton-based group was using rental cars and accommodations like Airbnbs or motels, switching from one location to another while selling the drugs on P.E.I.Officers eventually learned from “source information” that one of the members of the group was a “tall Black man” later identified as Sullivan. They proceeded to watch him over the course of several weeks both in person and via the city’s network of E-Watch cameras.Charlottetown Police have been using E-Watch surveillance cameras to help them solve crimes for several years now. (Sally Pitt/CBC)Court documents detail police efforts to follow Sullivan, who was seen driving two SUVs registered to rental car companies to meet up with different individuals known to police, including some believed to be street-level drug traffickers. Investigators also installed a tracking device on one of the vehicles Sullivan was using and a covert surveillance camera at a residence where they believed he was living. They later moved that camera to an address on Woodbine Street after Sullivan switched locations. Police eventually executed a search warrant at the Woodbine Street home. They found and arrested Sullivan and seized 225 grams of suspected fentanyl and just over 250 grams of suspected cocaine. Police also seized about $4,500 in cash, three cellphones and a notebook containing phone numbers with British Columbia and Alabama area codes.B.C. man sentenced to 4.5 years in prison after selling fentanyl in P.E.I.Raiyaaz Rahim Aziz, 19, said he thought he was coming to P.E.I. to sell cannabis. But police seized fentanyl, crystal meth and cocaine from the Airbnb where he was staying. CBC’s Nicola MacLeod has the details of the court case.A Health Canada analysis of the substances later confirmed one substance was fentanyl mixed with benzodiazepine, a deadlier mix than fentanyl alone, while the second substance was indeed cocaine. On Tuesday, the court heard that Sullivan had no criminal record before his arrest — similar to another young B.C. man who was recently sentenced to four years in prison for selling fentanyl, crystal meth and cocaine on the Island. In that case, Raiyaaz Rahim Aziz had 85 more grams of fentanyl than Sullivan, but 160 grams less of cocaine, and about 180 grams of crystal meth too. Like Sullivan, Aziz stayed in a rental accommodation and drove a rental car to meet the people he was distributing drugs to while on Prince Edward Island.Both Aziz and Sullivan were arrested as police seized quantities of fentanyl that were relatively large for P.E.I.’s justice system, but not the biggest amounts ever seized here. Earlier this year, a P.E.I. man was sentenced to more than seven years for having 310 grams of fentanyl in his possession. Sullivan’s legal aid lawyer requested a pre-sentence report, which will be prepared before his sentencing hearing in early December. The judge is expected to hand down a sentence at a later date. ABOUT THE AUTHORNicola is a reporter and producer for CBC News in Prince Edward Island. She regularly covers the criminal justice system and also hosted the CBC podcast Good Question P.E.I. She grew up on the Island and is a graduate of St. Thomas University’s journalism program. Got a story? Email nicola.macleod@cbc.caNicola MacLeod on X
B.C. man, 23, pleads guilty to trafficking fentanyl and cocaine on P.E.I.
