By Eraina Hooyer
Staff Reporter
The Ponoka RCMP were kept busy on July 4 when they responded to two separate complaints resulting in stolen vehicles and licence plates.
Police received the first complaint at around 4 p.m. the driver was speeding through traffic and weaving in and out of lanes on the QEII.
The licence plate check revealed that the vehicle was reported stolen in February in Edmonton.
The RCMP contacted the complainant again and learned that the vehicle had slowed down and that they still had it in sight.
Police worked with the Airdrie and Olds RCMP to stop the vehicle. The vehicle pulled over without any problems.
Police soon learned that the driver was the owner of the vehicle and had forgotten to report to police that he had found his vehicle after he called it in stolen when he couldn’t remember where he parked when he was intoxicated.
The second complaint was received by the RCMP around 8 p.m. also about a vehicle on the QEII. A blue BMW was speeding, driving erratically and weaving in and out of traffic. Police found that the licence plate had been stolen and belonged to a white Ford pickup truck.
RCMP stopped the vehicle and arrested all four of the people in the vehicle.
Police investigated and found that the 19 year old driver of the vehicle had imported the BMW from the United States for a quick resale but was not able to register it because of some inspection deficiencies. The driver relied on the same person who advised him on how to bring the car into Canada to give him a licence plate to temporarily drive it on a highway, which was expired and stolen.
Police say the other three passengers in the vehicle were more than willing to provide them with statements and were less than impressed with the driver’s actions.