Suspect arrested in Surrey, Langley bus attacks

RCMP have arrested a suspect in two recent attacks on Metro Vancouver buses, police announced on Thursday morning.

The 19-year-old Surrey man was arrested at a residence in Surrey just after midnight without incident after police identified a potential suspect in surveillance footage provided by TransLink. The suspect was apparently well-known to police.

The man remains in custody and police have executed a search warrant at the home.

In the first attack on Saturday, a driver was choked aboard a bus in Surrey. Then on Tuesday, a 41-year-old man was stabbed in the back after he got off a bus in Langley.

The man told police he thought someone had just slapped him on the back as he left the bus, police said.

The man was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries and the case has become a top priority for police.

RCMP Const. Craig Van Herk said 30 police were working on the case by Wednesday night.

Neither victim said they knew the man and neither of them had any interaction with him before he attacked.