Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
April 23, 2017 - 4:52 PM
PRINCETON – Yesterday officers got their man after a wild chase that included a kidnapping, a stolen motorcycle and police roadblocks.
No one was injured in the chase and the suspect is now in police custody and facing additional potential charges.
Afshin Maleki Ighani, 45, of Oliver was arrested yesterday afternoon in a Princeton trailer park with a woman he allegedly kidnapped, Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says in a release. Ighani was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant related to a shooting in Oliver earlier this week.
Afshin Maleki Ighani, 45, was arrested in Princeton on Saturday, April 22, 2017.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/B.C. RCMP
Police received a report that a woman was allegedly being held in a vehicle against her will, on Saturday, April 22 at 11 a.m.
In a media release, Moskaluk says Ighani was in a car with a couple - a man and woman - in a restaurant parking lot. The man was ordered out of the vehicle and Ighani drove away with the man’s girlfriend in the car.
The man allegedly stole a motorcycle from the parking lot and attempted to chase Ighani. Police say all three people knew each other.
Moskaluk says police set up roadblocks near Keremeos in an attempt to stop the motorcycle. The man didn’t stop at the roadblock and police later found the motorcycle abandoned in Okanagan Falls. Police are currently searching for him.
An RCMP helicopter spotted the suspect car in Princeton and officers on foot moved into a trailer park. At the time, Ighani was still in the vehicle with the woman. An officer fired a shot at the vehicle during the pursuit, according to Moskaluk.
Ighani fled the scene on foot and the woman remained in the car. He was later tracked by the RCMP police dog team in the woods nearby.
“Extensive investigative efforts continued on throughout the week since the shooting incident in Oliver,” Moskaluk says. “They involved a large number of police resources from the various detachments from the Penticton South Okanagan Regional Detachment, in order to safely apprehend Mr. Ighani. We are relieved that we were able to take him into custody without any harm to the public or our officers.”
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News from © iNFOnews, 2017