5 people charged after allegedkidnapping along Port Moody's Brewers Row

UPDATE April 24:Port Moody police say the five people arrested in the alleged kidnapping of a man on Murray Street have been charged with three different crimes.

Theyhave been each beencharged with kidnapping, conspiracy, and forcible confinement.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Police say they arrested five peopleFriday following an allegedkidnapping in Port Moody two days earlier.

Port Moody Police say they received reports of a man being pulled into a vehicle on Murray Street in the city'sbrewery district at around 10 a.m. Wednesday.

David Cowieson said he was driving near BrewersRow when he saw three women by the passenger side of a mini-van with a door open. He thought they may have been getting out of the vehicle, but then heard them yellabout a kidnapping.

The vehicle had a door open as it tried to flee the scene, he said.

Cowieson saidhe drove his car acrosstheyellow line and tried to block the vehicle.

"That was when he moved up on the grass and went in the direction he was heading, avoiding everybody,"Cowieson, who posted about his experience on TikTok,told CBCon Friday.

"There was traffic people there, there was a construction site going on and a bunch of flaggers were there, and I thought they could have contained them, but they couldn't."

On Friday, Port Moody police, along with members of the Vancouver Police Emergency Response Team, RCMP'sIntegrated Emergency Response Team,and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, movedin on a property inMission, B.C. east of Port Moody in the Fraser Valley in relation to the kidnapping investigation.

A man in his 40s, the victim of the alleged kidnapping, was rescued and his alleged captors were arrested there,according to Const. Sam Zacharias with Port Moody PD. The five suspects are expected to be charged with kidnapping, among other offences.

"From my understanding, because it was a fairly remote property the conservation officers did assist," he told CBC News."I'm not sure if it was because they were happened to be in the area or if they were asked to assist."

The officer said he was unabletoshare further details about the case given the sensitive nature of the investigation, but notedthere was never a threat to the public.

Zacharias acknowledged that a "brazen" daylight kidnapping would likely have alarmed community members in Port Moody, but thanked residents who called 911 to report the crime as it occurred Wednesday.