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Police arrest squatter in shipping container, seize ‘multiple weapons’

A 34-year-old man was arrested with the help of the RCMP Integrated Emergency Response Team on 22 charges across Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge
Stefan Labbé
Stefan Labbé
Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team (ERT)
The RCMP's Lower Mainland District Emergency Response Team was called in with a K9 unit and police helicopter Air 1 - Photograph via B.C. RCMP

A complaint about a 34-year-old man squatting in a shipping container has led RCMP officers to a stockpile of weapons and resulted in 22 charges related to offences in Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge. 

The raid on the shipping container occurred Nov. 30 after a heavy police response — which included the assistance of an RCMP emergency response team, K9 unit and Air 1 helicopter — moved in to a large property in the 19000 block of Lougheed Highway, according to a Ridge Meadows press release.

Inside, police found a man they identified as Mark Maccannell, who was arrested on the spot under multiple warrants. In addition, police said “multiple weapons were seized from the property.”

On Dec. 2, Maccannell was charged with 22 offences at the Port Coquitlam Provincial Court stemming from “multiple investigations” in Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge. Those include 18 counts of firearms-related offences, two counts of break and enter, as well as theft and assault.

Maccannell is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 16.

"This is a prime example of someone seeing something suspicious in the community and reporting it to police,” said Ridge Meadows RCMP Sgt. Michelle Luca in a press release. “This enabled police to have these guns from our streets.”