VICTORIA -- One man has been arrested and two other adults are still at large following an attempted break-in at a rural property in Cedar, according to the Nanaimo RCMP.
The incident occurred at approximately 10 a.m. Sunday in the 1200-block of Maughan Road.
Police say that the property owner noticed the lock on his barn door had been broken. Shortly after, he heard a vehicle honk its horn nearby.
The homeowner then saw two men running off his property and hop into a parked truck that was honking its horn.
Before the truck pulled away, the property owner managed to take a picture of the truck’s licence plate, and of the vehicle’s female driver.
Mounties then arrived at the scene and located a set of bolt cutters near the barn.
Police service dogs were then deployed to try to track the perpetrators, which led to the discovery of items that are believed to be connected to the suspects. At the time, however, no one was located.
Later, using the image of the truck’s licence plate, police say that they were able to track down the registered owner of the vehicle.
Mounties say that the vehicle owner, a 36-year-old man, was known to police and arrested for the attempted break-in.
The man has since been released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in Nanaimo provincial court on July 7.
While two people involved in the attempted break-in have not been located, police say they are “confident the female driver and the other male suspect will be identified.”
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345.
