Two Timmins children sought under an Amber Alert have been found safe after police pulled over a vehicle just outside of North Bay on Thursday.
Timmins police Sgt. Darren Dinel said that North Bay police pulled over a vehicle on Highway 17 East at 10:30 a.m. after receiving a tip from hotel employees.
Dinel said that two other adults were found inside the vehicle. The children were safe, he said, and their father Zachary Johnson was taken into custody.
Johnson is divorced from the children's mother. The three-year-old boy and one-year-old girl were last seen just before 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to reports.
The children had just returned from a tobogganing outing with their father. Their grandmother left the room and found the children missing when she returned, along with a bag of clothes.
The children's grandfather, Gui LaRocque, told CTV News that it took only seconds for the children to vanish.
The vehicle Zachary Johnson was driving was found broken down not far from the children's Timmins home, so it wasn't immediately known how the trio was travelling. They were suspected to be headed to Ottawa, Nova Scotia, or Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Que.
Dinel said that the children are in custody of Child and Family Services of North Bay, but will be returned to their family shortly.
LaRocque, who has full custody of the children with his wife, said that he is excited for their return.
"I'm very happy for the Amber Alert, if it wouldn't have been for that he would've got away," he said, adding that when he sees the children he will give them each a "big hug, big kiss and a bath."
Johnson is scheduled to appear in court for a bail hearing on Monday in connection with unrelated offences, Dinel said.
