Two men who allegedly stole a bait car in Nanaimo were arrested and taken into custody in Ladysmith on Tuesday.
According to police, the incident occurred at about 3:30 p.m. when police were alerted that a bait car, which had been deployed just two hours earlier, had been activated in south Nanaimo.
Officers soon spotted the vehicle being driven on the Island Highway and triggered the engine-disable mechanism so the car would stop safely on the shoulder of the highway, near Grouhel Road in Ladysmith.
Investigators found a motorcycle in the rear of the vehicle, which they determined had been stolen on March 26 from a home in Sooke.
Jordan Daniel Plamondon, 27, and Shane Michael Smith, 44, were arrested and taken into custody, but not before Smith, the passenger, slipped as he got out of the vehicle and stuck his head on a cement barrier. B.C. paramedics transported him to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital where he was treated for a minor injury where he joined Plamondon in Nanaimo RCMP detachment cells overnight before they appeared in provincial court on Wednesday.
Plamondon was charged with theft of a motor vehicle, driving while prohibited, possession of a controlled substance and breaches of release conditions. Smith was charged with possession of stolen property, possession of a controlled substance and breach of his release conditions. The drug possession charges for both men was for suspected crystal methamphetamine.
“Both Plamondon and Smith are well-known prolific offenders and have had numerous contact with police officers across Vancouver Island,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, in a press release. “In any given community prolific offenders account for 80 per cent of all crime committed. With this in mind, citizens of Nanaimo and elsewhere should take a collective sigh of relief knowing these individuals are off the streets and are being held accountable for crimes they have allegedly committed.”
To learn more about the bait car program, go to www.baitcar.com or follow it on Twitter at @officialbaitcar.