A man and woman are in custody with police in northern B.C. and are facing several charges after drugs, cash and a firearm were seized this week.
Quesnel RCMP arrested the two, aged 33 and 30 respectively, on a number of incidents that transpired Thursday evening (April 15), which included dangerous driving at nearly twice the speed limit and possession .
Fortunately, no one was severely injured.
Mounties explain, after 5 p.m., North District Traffic Services saw a Mercedes sedan heading northbound towards Quesnel on Highway 97 near Edwards Road, initially traveling at 145 km/h but then sped up to 180 km/h after it failed to stop for police.
Once it entered city limits, after a second police vehicle tried and failed to pull it over, the Mercedes then went into oncoming lanes in a construction zone and witnesses reported it driving dangerously down Dragon Lake Hill and swerving at high speeds.
RCMP made the decision to deploy two spike belts on the north side of the Quesnel River Bridge, which successfully deflated the tires but the driver continued to try and flee and collided with two civilian vehicles before lodging himself between a truck and a dump truck.
The man then rammed into a police vehicle but couldn’t move afterwards.
Mounties say a taser and pepper spray were needed to arrest the driver, while the female passenger was taken into custody without incident, both of whom sustained minor injuries from the slew of events.
A search warrant was then obtained after officers found, what was believed to be, a large amount of drugs.
Following the investigation, items seized included the following:
- 723 grams of fentanyl
- 659 grams of methamphetamine
- 445 grams of cocaine
- Loaded nine-millimetre pistol with silencer
- $20,000 in cash
“To put the drug seizure into perspective, cocaine is sold at the street level in half grams (0.5 grams) and meth and fentanyl are sold at the microgram (0.1 gram) amounts,” explained Quesnel RCMP Cpl. Matt Isaak with the Crime Reduction Unit.
“When you do the math, this seizure took a lot of doses of harmful drugs off the streets. The fact that this man had a loaded handgun with a silencer is also disturbing and speaks to the level of violence associated to the drug trade.”
The two individuals are not from the Quesnel area, police explain.
They now face drugs and firearm-related charges, but additional ones are being recommended for flight from police, dangerous operations of a motor vehicle and breach of a release order.
“The driver of the Mercedes was reckless and had a complete disregard for the safety of others on the road,” adds Sgt. Richard Weseen.
“Spike belts were used to stop the vehicle before it entered the downtown core as it was the end of the business day where there was a high volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. After the vehicle was disabled, the driver was goal oriented to escape, colliding with civilian and police vehicles. We are fortunate he was stopped before he seriously injured anyone.”
Anyone with more information, or possible video of the incident, is encouraged to call Quesnel RCNP at 250-992-9211.
