Photo: Contributed

A night-long search for a potential impaired driver ended with police filing drug-trafficking charges and seizing a substantial amount of fentanyl.

On Wednesday, November 6, an officer with the Nelson Police Department observed several individuals smoking suspected illicit substances inside a parked vehicle.

Concerned about the potential risk of impaired driving, the officer promptly reported the incident to the NPD station. Although on-duty officers were immediately dispatched to the area, the vehicle left the location prior to their arrival.

A short time later, officers located and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle a few blocks from the initial report, NPD Community Safety Officer Silk Edwards noted.

“During the stop, the driver was removed from the vehicle and a substantial amount of fentanyl was found in her possession,” she said in the police report. “The driver was arrested for impaired driving and transported to the hospital for a blood test.”

A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed paraphernalia indicative of drug trafficking activity.

The vehicle was temporarily impounded and the driver was released from Kootenay Lake Hospital under conditions.

Members of the Nelson Police Department responded to 103 calls for service in Nelson during the reporting period of November 3-9.