Charges have been laid in connection with an armed robbery of a legal grow-op in Sicamous which led to a police pursuit and takedown near Enderby on April 7.
According to the Sicamous RCMP, 31-year-old Jeremy Andrew Aiken has been charged with robbery with a firearm, flight from police and two counts of possession of stolen property over $5,000. He was scheduled for an April 17 court appearance in Salmon Arm.
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Sicamous RCMP received a report of a robbery at a licensed cannabis grow at 4 a.m. on April 7. Responding to an alarm at the facility, a property representative arrived before police and encountered two people with guns, said Sicamous RCMP Sgt. Murray McNeil in an April 9 media release. A shot was allegedly fired towards the property representative, but they were not hurt.
McNeil said three suspects, whose faces were concealed at the time of the robbery, fled the scene in a white cube van which had been reported stolen earlier in Kelowna. The suspects had allegedly stolen equipment related to cannabis production as well as cannabis plants.
RCMP located the van near Grindrod south of Sicamous and attempted to stop it. The driver fled down Mabel Lake Road before abandoning the vehicle near the Mabel Lake Resort and fleeing on foot.
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Police requested local residents lock their doors and report any suspicious activity as a search group, including the South East District Emergency Response Team, assembled. Police searched the area and arrested Aiken on the shore of Mabel Lake hours later.
RCMP believe the two suspects who they did not apprehend fled the area in a small white hatchback after departing the scene of the robbery. Anyone with further information is asked to contact the Sicamous RCMP at 250-836-2878.
-With files from Jennifer Smith/Vernon Morning Star
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