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Man arrested after Highway Patrol officer finds stolen vehicle at Salmon Arm convenience store

Officer finds firearms, suspected narcotics in vehicle reported stolen from Vernon
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A North Okanagan man was taken to the cells at the Salmon Arm RCMP detachment after a BC Highway Patrol officer found him at a local convenience store with a vehicle allegedly stolen from Vernon. (File photo)

A BC Highway Patrol officer’s stop at a Salmon Arm convenience store proved inconvenient for a North Okanagan man.

On Saturday, Nov. 13, the officer stopped at the convenience store for a snack. In the parking lot, the officer checked a vehicle’s licence plate number after watching the driver get out and enter the store. It was discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen two weeks earlier in Vernon.

The officer then scanned the car’s interior and found a baseball bat in the front passenger foot well. According to RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Mike Halskov, the officer requested back up before going into the store. The driver, standing at the counter, was arrested for possession of stolen property and secured in the police car.

Halskov said the vehicle was then further searched. In addition to the bat, a pistol-grip shotgun was found, as well as what appeared to be a handgun, a collapsible baton, shotgun ammunition and suspected narcotics.

“The vehicle was impounded and the driver, a man in his thirties from the North Okanagan area, was transported to Salmon Arm detachment cells,” said Halskov.

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After further investigation, it was determined the man was under a six-year driving prohibition, in breach of a probation order not to possess weapons and was well-known to police. Halskov said the man appeared in court and was remanded into custody.

“Incidents like this are becoming an all-too-common occurrence,” commented Cpl. Mike Wasylenki, unit commander of BC Highway Patrol in Revelstoke. “The officer in this case is, by habit, very vigilant and the results of his investigation demonstrate how BC Highway Patrol is contributing to making our highways safer together.”



lachlan@saobserver.net
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