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Customs, RCMP and police foil suicide pact involving chemicals at airport
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The Canadian Press
WINNIPEG - Customs agents, Mounties and city police have foiled a suicide pact that involved a car full of potentially hazardous chemicals at Winnipeg's international airport.
Officers in the Manitoba capital say they were tipped by Mounties in British Columbia that a woman, believed to be from Europe, had just entered the country through Vancouver with the intention of meeting a 27-year-old man in Winnipeg.
Const. Jason Michalyshen said the two had met on a website and had made a suicide pact. Police locked down the Winnipeg airport late Monday night and found the man with a car full of chemicals.
The unnamed man was taken into custody and the chemicals were deemed safe by the fire department's hazardous materials team.
No charges are pending since the two never intended to harm anyone other than themselves, Michalyshen said.
The chemicals found in the man's car can be purchased at a hardware store, but, when combined, can produce lethal gas, he said. They were in sealed containers inside the car.
"They posed no further threat to anyone in their current state."
Air travel at the airport was not disrupted during the investigation and the terminal was only locked down for about an hour, Michalyshen said.
Both the woman and the Winnipeg man have been taken into custody so they can get the attention and support they need, he said. It's not known if the woman will be sent back to her home country.
"Police members unfortunately deal with these types of circumstances on a daily basis, where individuals find themselves in some very troubled times and often desperate decisions are made," Michalyshen said. "It's really, really unfortunately.
"This is unique in how this was brought forward."
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