Ridge Meadows RCMP recovered items stolen in recent break-ins after the regional auto crime team arrested the driver of a stolen 2015 BMW X3 on April 23.
“This arrest has a definite Maple Ridge flavour. Located in the car was property stolen from our jurisdiction,” said Ridge Meadows Const. Amanda Harnett.
Owners of the missing property will be contacted by police.
The RCMP’s auto crime team said a man snuck into a home in Coquitlam sometime on the night of April 19, stole the keys to the vehicle, opened up the garage door and drove away in the BMW.
Police spotted the SUV a few days later in New Westminster, Surrey and Burnaby and tracked it by helicopter.
The RCMP’s Port Mann Freeway Patrol tried to stop the BMW in New Westminster, but the driver didn’t comply. The driver sped through Burnaby, where it was involved in a minor accident. The driver ran away, but a RCMP canine unit soon found him in a stairwell.
Once they recovered the SUV, police found mail, jewelry and power tools inside which they think came from offences in Maple Ridge and Coquitlam.
Crown has charged Brandon Cumming-Hobson, 23, of no fixed address, with dangerous operation of a vehicle, possession of stolen property over $5,000, and breach of probation.
Chemicals dumped
Maple Ridge firefighters had some cleaning up to do, but they had plenty of help in dealing with what was suspected to be a bunch of chemicals used to make MDMA, or ecstasy.
Firefighters were recently called out to 124th Avenue near 260th Street after about a dozen containers were found on the roadside, near a ditch.
The RCMP, the Ministry of Environment and a hazardous materials contractor were involved in the investigation of what’s suspected to be a clandestine lab dump.
“Somebody decided to come in under the cover of darkness and empty the back of truck with all their stuff,” said assistant chief Michael Van Dop.
He estimated about a pickup truck load of chemicals was dumped.
The chemicals were hauled away and soil samples were taken to see if environmental cleanup was required.
Results of those samples should be back soon.
The RCMP’s clandestine lab investigators identified the materials, some of which were identified as precursor materials used to make ecstasy.
“I think any time you want to mix chemicals in your basement and make illegal drugs, it’s a dangerous process.”