Police have arrested the man they believe is responsible for stealing aluminium grills from local condominium and apartment building vestibule floors, as reported in the Examiner on June 18. At least three of the grills were stolen in Westmount.

"Our grill thief has been stopped," said Station 12 Constable Caroline Gauthier, who reports that the arrest was made on Wednesday, June 25.

Shortly before 11 a.m., a police officer patrolling in the Montreal district of Ville-Marie was passed by a truck with its ignition torn out. Suspicious, he flashed his lights, requesting the driver to stop the vehicle. He didn't.

Instead, the driver fled on foot, and the officer followed. The chase ended with an arrest at the intersection of St. Mathieu and Joseph Manseau Street, below René Lévesque Boulevard.

Inside the abandoned truck, police found equipment commonly used for breaking and entering. The vehicle itself had also been reported stolen.

The suspect was arrested in connection with as many as 37 separate thefts dating from May 27. He had been allegedly stealing vestibule aluminium grills from Brossard, Laval, Montreal, and Westmount, then selling them to metal recyclers. He is also suspected of stealing trucks or vans to transport the grills.