Coquitlam RCMP raise alarm after lemons pierced with sewing needles found on local trails

An unusual and disturbing discovery alongwalking trails in Port Coquitlam has prompted local RCMP to reach out to members of the public for help, and scourthe Internet for possible motives.

In the last two months, twosewing needle-pierced lemons were found hanging from branches, onewrapped in orangetwine, alongtwo different trail areas, according to a statement Wednesday from the Coquitlam RCMP.

"If you see something that could be a deliberate attempt at harm, you must call police on the phone, rather than send an email,"Cpl.Michael McLaughlin said.

The first lemon was found hung from a branch in Gates Park on June 22. A report was made in an email to the city of Port Coquitlam.

The second lemon was foundJuly 14, tied near a trail by the Coquitlam River at Whyte Avenue. That discovery was reported byemail to a closed community police station.

Pop culture references to witchcraft

McLaughlin said instead of immediately phoning in the discoveries, the people who stumbled across the potentially dangerous itemsemailed thedetachment and the community policing stationemailsthat were missed.

In both cases, the people who reported the sightings threw the lemons into the garbage, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said any evidence that could have helped the investigation is nowgone. Themotive is still not known.

"There are a lot of references in pop culture and on the Internet about putting needles in lemons," McLaughlin said.

"People can certainly do searches for themselves. We don't want to go too far down that path because, aspolice, we've got to follow the evidence and we don't want to start drawing conclusions until we have evidence."

McLaughlin admitted investigators did look online and found references to witchcraft. But he said one possibletheory is that the person who left the lemons had no intention to hurt anyone.

"If you are leaving these lemons full of needles in public, we ask that you stop, and then talk to us to explain what you were doing, said McLaughlin.

Anyone with information is asked to call theCoquitlam RCMP non-emergency number at 604-945-1550, or call 911 if you see another one.