Skip to content

Daylight railcar robbery leads to two arrests

Parked railcars looted in Agassiz

Two young men will be facing a judge soon in relation to an alleged railway car theft in Agassiz.

At about 2 p.m. on September 29, two men working on their property in the 6600 block of Pioneer saw two people breaking into several train cars.

The Canadian Pacific/ Canadian National train was parked along Pioneer Avenue, near the Highway 9 crossing in Agassiz.

They men called RCMP to report the suspicious activity, and police responded quickly and surrounded the area.

Cst. Tammy Hollingsworth said a general duty officer located and arrested a 16-year-old Agassiz boy. The following day, an 18-year-old Agassiz man turned himself in as the second suspect.

Both are now facing charges of break and enter, theft under $5000 and trespassing under the Railway Safety Act.

Both are known to police, and were released on strict conditions to await their court dates.

Police said five rail cars were broken into, containing steel piping, decorative vases and passenger car tires.

Some car tires that were stolen from a train car were found hidden beside the tracks. Those were seized and returned to CN Rail.

Neither suspect had stolen property on them at the time of the arrest.

Hollingsworth said that rail cars are often stopped in Agassiz to perform checks, or are left there by the railway company to be picked up at a later time.

"The investigation was successful as a result of attentive witnesses, a quick police response, and great team effort between the RCMP, CN and CP Police Services," Hollingsworth said.  "This is a reminder that these types of thefts do occur and the police are asking the community to keep their eyes open and report and suspicious activity around railway cars to the police."

news@ahobserver.com

 



Jessica Peters

About the Author: Jessica Peters

I began my career in 1999, covering communities across the Fraser Valley ever since.
Read more