2 charged after pair of women allegedly held in B.C. U-Haul against their will

Delta police say charges have been approved against a man and a woman accused of holding two women against their will in a U-Haul van this week.

Police were alerted Wednesday to a distraught woman near Highway 17 and Ladner Trunk Road in Delta, B.C. She told police she’d been assaulted, robbed and forcibly confined in the back of the U-Haul, prompting officers to put out an alert to police in neighbouring municipalities.

Not long afterward, Langley RCMP found the van in Aldergrove. They arrested two occupants and found a second woman being held inside.

On Friday, Delta police said 38-year-old Dustin Engels had been charged with two counts of forcible confinement, two counts of assault, two counts of use of an imitation firearm, two counts of uttering threats and one count of robbery.

Morgan Thompson, 28, has been charged with a single count of robbery.

Police said everyone involved knew one another, and that the incident was the “result of conflict between known parties” with no risk to the general public.