Armed North Dakota man flees CBSA, leads RCMP on high-speed chase near Winnipeg
A 44-year-old from North Dakota fled border agents at Emerson, Manitoba, triggering a multi-detachment RCMP pursuit before being boxed in by cruisers on Highway 75.
Loaded handgun found after RCMP box in fleeing pickup truck south of Winnipeg
A 44-year-old man from North Dakota is in custody following a high-speed chase through southern Manitoba on Saturday evening, after he allegedly fled Canadian border agents at the Emerson port of entry, National Post Crime reports.
At approximately 6:30 p.m., Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) notified police that the man had arrived at the Emerson crossing via North Dakota and "fled at a high rate of speed" after agents directed him to secondary screening. Multiple RCMP detachments and the Integrated Border Enforcement Team (IBET) were dispatched to intercept him on Highway 75 — the main artery running roughly 110 kilometres south of Winnipeg.
Officers from the Morris detachment, about 44 kilometres north of the border crossing, were unable to bring the pickup truck to a stop. Mounties from St-Pierre-Jolys set up a roadblock at a provincial road intersection, but the driver allegedly manoeuvred around it, drove through a ditch, and nearly struck an officer before continuing north at high speed.
The pursuit ended approximately 40 minutes after it began. Officers used two to three RCMP cruisers to box in the vehicle, forcing it to stop. One cruiser sustained damage to its front end; no officers were injured. The man "was safely removed from the vehicle and arrested," police said.
Inside the truck, investigators found a loaded handgun on the front passenger seat along with several types of ammunition.
Manitoba East District Commander Superintendent Chris Hastie, in a press release, described the incident as "a dangerous situation involving an armed male fleeing the port of entry and travelling at high speeds toward Winnipeg." Hastie thanked officers for their coordinated response and said authorities are "working closely with CBSA, law enforcement in the United States and our colleagues within RCMP Federal Policing to determine why the male fled the border."
The man faces a series of charges. Driving-related counts include dangerous operation of a conveyance, flight from a peace officer, and assault on a peace officer with a weapon. Firearms charges include possession of a loaded prohibited firearm with readily accessible ammunition, unsafe transport of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, and possession and export of a firearm and prohibited ammunition in a motor vehicle.
The Emerson crossing has been the scene of other serious border incidents in recent years. Earlier in 2025, 32-year-old U.S. citizen Sahil Aziz was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in Manitoba Provincial Court to organizing illegal entry into Canada and smuggling fraudulently obtained credit card data. Border agents found documents belonging to another individual in Aziz's vehicle when he attempted to cross in February 2025.
The same crossing gained international attention in January 2022, when a family of four Indian citizens — Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, 39, Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel, 37, Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel, 11, and Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel, 3 — were found frozen to death nearby, victims of an apparent organized people-smuggling operation that had moved them during a severe Prairie blizzard.
Source: National Post Crime