Crown prosecutors are proceeding with drug trafficking charges against a former Merritt resident accused of peddling the deadly opiate carfentanil.

Timothy Meldrum, 46, is accused of selling drugs to three females who overdosed in Merritt back on June 8 of last year.

“All three of them overdosed immediately,” said RCMP Cpl. Derrick Francis.

The women recovered at hospital and police began investigating who sold them the drugs, leading to charges being approved against Meldrum two days ago.

Thanks to statements taken from the women, Merritt police were eventually able to determine the identity of the alleged drug trafficker.

Meldrum has been charged for trafficking in heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil, Francis said.

A summons has been issued for Meldrum, who lived in Merritt at the time of the incidnet, but is originally from the Lower Mainland.

Being able to issue successful trafficking charges to the Crown doesn’t happen very often, Francis said.

“The more common charge that we get in the drug world is possession for the purposes of trafficking,” Francis said. “It’s kind of a lesser charge. It’s not that often we actually get someone trafficking because in order to get a trafficking charge we either need to see them make the hand-to-hand [transaction] or, like in this case, do an investigation where people can identify the person.”

When police responded to the drug overdose involving the three females, two of the women had lost consciousness and received CPR before being hospitalized overnight. The third female did not lose consciousness, and was treated for an overdose at the hospital.

Police told the Herald at the time that the women believed they had taken cocaine.