Kidnapping charges have been approved against five people accused of snatching a man off the street in Port Moody last week and holding him against his will for days.
Police with multiple agencies, including the Vancouver Police Department, RCMP and Port Moody Police Department (PMPD) staged a dramatic operation in Mission and Maple Ridge on Friday, and successfully rescued the victim — a man in his 40s.
On Saturday, Port Moody police said they had served multiple warrants across the Lower Mainland and had arrested five suspects in total.
On Monday, the PMPD confirmed charges of kidnapping, forcible confinement and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence against Nathaniel Lecky, Michael Albrecht, Cameron Duffin, Oliver Hanson and Delaney Donaghy.
The motive in the kidnapping and any potential connections between he suspects and the victim remain unclear.
Witnesses told Global News the victim was grabbed as he was coming out of Innovative Fitness on Murray Street in the busy “Brewers Row” neighbourhood of Port Moody on Wednesday morning.
They described the victim’s feet hanging out of the open door of a van as he was punched by two people wearing masks.
One witness said they tried to pull the victim from the van, to no avail. Another witness described trying to block the suspects’ vehicle with their own, resulting in the kidnappers driving over a grassy boulevard to escape.