A Saanich man is facing a raft of drugs and weapons charges after fleeing from police who noticed his car had the wrong licence plates.
Officers from the West Shore RCMP drug and organized crime unit and the crime-reduction unit were conducting an investigation in the Malahat area on June 14 when they saw a vehicle heading north with licence plates registered to a different vehicle.
When the driver stopped in an empty parking lot near Duncan, the officers tried to initiate a traffic stop. The driver immediately accelerated, driving toward them at a high rate of speed, ramming the front of one police vehicle and sideswiping another as he fled.
Police did not initiate a pursuit, said West Shore RCMP Const. Meighan Massey.
A Shawnigan Lake RCMP officer found the vehicle a short time later. A 26-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were taken into custody without further incident.
When investigators searched the vehicle, they found a loaded Beretta handgun reported stolen from Nanaimo in August 2020. The also found $15,000 in cash, three ounces of fentanyl, smaller quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine, police style collapsible batons and canisters of bear spray.
After the arrest, officers, with the assistance of the Saanich police street crime unit and the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, executed a search warrant in Saanich. Police said they found evidence of a significant drug-trafficking operation and seized a large quantity of GHB. They also located a replica handgun and ammunition.
Police are recommending several charges against the man, including possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine for the purposes of trafficking, flight from a peace officer, and possession of a firearm.
Charges of possession of a scheduled substance are being recommended against the woman.
