INNISFAIL – Three Calgarians are facing multiple Criminal Code charges following a break and enter near the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre that had the suspects repeatedly bungle alleged attempts to steal vehicles for fuel to gas up their stalled stolen cube truck.
RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said in a media release that on Jan. 4 Innisfail Mounties responded to a report of a commercial break and enter at a rural property near the intersection of Township Road 351 and Range Road 285 and close to the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre in Red Deer County.
Savinkoff said three suspects entered the commercial property and stole tools and keys to numerous work trucks. Three trucks were also stolen from the business, he said.
However, the stolen trucks at the commercial business would soon play an important role in the culprits' arrests, whose cube truck, which was stolen earlier, had run out of gas along Highway 2, also known as the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.
“Each time they stole a truck, they would get it stuck and weren't successful,” Savinkoff told the Albertan. “So, they stole the first and got it stuck, stole the second and got it stuck and then stole the third where it was in the process of transferring diesel from one vehicle to the next when police arrived and arrested everybody.”
“It was more than just gas though because they (suspects) also took the liberty of stealing tools and doing quite a bit of damage to the business in the process of taking these vehicles,” he added.
With assistance from the business owner, all three suspects were located and arrested on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway near the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre, said Savinkoff.
He said all vehicles and stolen property have been recovered, along with one additional stolen five-tonne truck.
Savinkoff said the total value of the stolen property was in excess of $300,000.
He said Satnam Ranu, 39, Karamjit Dahliwal, 48, and Harinder Mann, 45, all residents of Calgary, have been jointly charged with the following offences:
• break and enter;
• three counts of theft over $5,000;
• possession of stolen property over $5,000; and
• two counts of mischief under $5,000.
Ranu and Dahliwal were later released by a justice of the peace with their next court appearances scheduled for Feb. 1 at Red Deer provincial court.
Mann was taken before a justice of the peace and was remanded into custody with his next court appearance scheduled for Jan. 10 at Red Deer provincial court.
