Nanaimo RCMP have revealed they are coming across more individuals in possession of modified weapons, with two separate seizures occurring earlier this week.
Just after 9 a.m. on June 14th, RCMP bike patrol officers came upon several people sitting on the steps leading to the Nanaimo Military Museum on Cameron Street.
According to reports, one officer noticed one person in the group was in possession of a jeweler’s hammer.
The unique item led to a conversation between the officer and the individual, as they questioned the methods in which they would be able to acquire it.
Moments later, officers found what they suspected to be a sawed off shotgun in the suspect’s waistband.
47-year-old Robert McGeorge of no fixed address was arrested and the firearm was seized.
A search of his items located 16 additional rounds of ammunition. The firearm was a modified single-shot calibre rifle.
McGeorge was transported to the Nanaimo RCMP cells and charged for weapons, drug possession, possessing break in tools and breach against charges.
Later that same day, at approximately 3 p.m, officers responded to a report of a man who appeared to be passed out behind the wheel of a motor vehicle parked on Rosamond Street.
Upon waking the individual, officers suspected he was impaired by drugs and detained him.
A check of his clothes revealed a black bag that held various amounts of suspected crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, MDMA and fentanyl.
Officers also searched a backpack on the floor of the vehicle, which had been within arms reach of the individual, which revealed a loaded sawed off shotgun.
The 48-year-old Nanaimo man was held in police custody overnight before being released the next day on an undertaking for weapons charges.
The man, who cannot be named as charges have not been formally laid, will appear in court late July.
“These two interactions speak volumes to the inherent dangers police officers face on a daily basis,” said Constable Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP.
“Disturbingly, officers are finding more and more criminals who have taken to arming themselves with these dangerous modified weapons.”
