Nanaimo RCMP called in the Vancouver Island Emergency Response Team for backup on a search warrant and arrest just after midnight Sunday, at a home in the 1000 block of Haliburton Street.
The suspect, a 33-year-old Nanaimo man, was allegedly involved in an assault in late December that left a woman with significant injuries and that he might also possess a handgun.
Police arrested the suspect on suspicion of assault causing bodily harm and held him in custody to appear in court Monday. The search also turned up a replica handgun and small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin.
A 43-year-old woman in the residence was released without charges.