2 arrested after hours-long police search spanning Alberta, Sask.
Two men from Regina were arrested after an hours-long search that stretched from Brooks, Alta., to Wymark, Sask. — a distance of more than 350 kilometres by road — on Thursday.
An RCMP news release said officers from Brooks — about 160 kilometres southeast of Calgary — advised police in Maple Creek, close to the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, that two suspects in an alleged kidnapping were travelling east on Highway 1.
RCMP from Maple Creek and Swift Current positioned themselves along Highway 1 and watched the road for the vehicle.
Officers from Brooks later told Saskatchewan RCMP the vehicle they were looking for had been found abandoned in a rural area in Alberta.
The Brooks officers then received a report a black truck with Alberta licence plates had been stolen, and notified the Saskatchewan RCMP to be on the lookout for that vehicle.
RCMP from Swift Current found the truck travelling north of Tompkins, Sask., northeast of Maple Creek, on a grid road.
Officers from nine different RCMP agencies in the area, along with highway patrol, Saskatchewan Environment and Resources Management and the Prairie Sky region community safety officer attempted to stop the truck, but were unsuccessful.
The truck was abandoned in a farmyard north of Ponteix, and police allege the thieves then stole a grey pickup truck.
They once again fled, police said, but ended up in a ditch east of Wymark just before 3 p.m.
Saskatchewan RCMP officers took two men — ages 25 and 36 — into custody and verified there were no kidnapping victims in any of the vehicles involved in the chase.
No one was injured in the pursuit, but RCMP said two of the vehicles were driven through various fields in southwest Saskatchewan. They are asking landowners or residents to report any property damage to their local RCMP detachment.
The two men arrested face numerous charges, including dangerous operation of a vehicle, flight from a peace officer, and theft of a motor vehicle.
Both men appeared in court on Friday and were remanded into custody. They are scheduled to appear in court by phone in November.
