A 32-year-old man is facing charges in two New Year’s Day break-ins in Burnaby after a police dog sniffed him out in an unusual hiding spot.
Burnaby RCMP were called to the 6600 block of Waltham Avenue for a report of a break-in at about 4:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day, according to media spokesperson Cpl. Mike Kalanj.
Shortly after officers arrived at the house, he said police got another call about a second break-in a couple blocks away on St. Charles Place.
A police dog unit was nearby and got in on the response, according to Kalanj.
The canine cop caught a scent and led police to the back of a high-end, two-door Mercedes.
Police found the suspect inside the trunk.
“It’s just like the movies,” Kalanj said. “If this happens at Metrotown in the middle of the day, there’s no way you can do a dog track because there’s thousands of people. But because it’s 4:30 in the morning, the dog catches the track of the person and sniff sniff sniffs, goes down the road and, boom, there they are.”
The man now faces two charges of breaking and entering and one charge of breaching release conditions.
The car he was found in was not his own, and the man was under a court order not to be inside any vehicle without the registered owner present.
“I don’t know how you end up in the trunk of a Mercedes,” Kalanj said.
As a side note, Kalanj said this wasn’t the man’s first brush with a police dog.
“He’s been found doing this kind of thing before,” he said.
The man was kept in custody until his first court appearance.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
Email cnaylor@burnabynow.com
