London police tasked with taking a wanted man into custody ended up finding a stolen vehicle and $26,251 worth of illicit drugs.
Officers with the police service's investigative support section went to a home in the area of Kinnear and Bartlett crescents to arrest a man on outstanding warrants around 11:45 a.m. on Thursday. When they arrived, the wanted man was seen getting into the passenger seat of a vehicle in the driveway.
In an alleged attempt to evade police, the driver began reversing the vehicle out of the driveway, but was stopped. The wanted man was arrested after reportedly getting out of the vehicle and trying to make a run for it. The driver was arrested without incident, police said.
No injuries were reported.
Further investigation determined the vehicle, a 2022 Lexus RX 350 valued at $80,000, had been reported stolen from a London home last December. A search of the vehicle turned up 79.5 grams of cocaine, 421 Dilaudid pills, 4.5 grams of fentanyl, and $1,076 in cash.
A 26-year-old London man is charged with three counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and one count each of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and breach of conditional sentence order. The accused, along with the 34-year-old London man arrested for outstanding warrants, were both scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
