A last-ditch attempt to get rid of some incriminating evidence ended up putting the icing on the case against a Whitehorse man accused of dealing drugs.

Yao Lin Guan had pleaded not guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and evading a police officer, but was found guilty after a trial earlier this month.

The RCMP first became interested in Guan when a corporal with Whitehorse's crime reduction unit noticed what looked like a drug deal going down in the Tags Food and Gas parking lot.

Last Sept. 26, Cpl. Jerry Walker was on his way home from work and had stopped to fuel up at the Fourth Avenue gas station store.

His interest was piqued by a man standing at the phone outside of the nearby McDonald's restaurant so he took his time filling up and watching the man at the pay phone.

Before long, a dark-coloured Toyota drove through the parking lot and stopped where the man was waiting.

The man walked up to the passenger side window and put his hand in the vehicle, and Walker saw an Asian man in the passenger seat hand something over. Then the two shook hands and the car drove away.

With seven years' experience on the Prince George, B.C. and Whitehorse drug squads, Walker was sure he had seen a drug deal and wrote down the vehicle's licence plate number.

At work the next day, Walker ran the plate number and found the vehicle belonged to Guan, and was registered to an address on Alexander Street.

During his day's patrol, Walker drove past the house and saw the dark-coloured Toyota parked in front.

Later that day, Walker spotted the car again, this time pulling out on to Fourth Avenue. The driver was the man he'd seen in the passenger seat the day before.

Walker, in full uniform and driving a marked cruiser, followed the vehicle as it pulled into a parking lot off Chilkoot Way. The Toyota stopped, but the driver remained inside, looking around as if waiting for someone.

Walker drove past the car and made eye contact with the driver, who started his car and drove back toward Two Mile Hill. Walker followed and the man ran a stop sign so then Walker turned his lights and sirens on.

A slow-speed chase ensued.

The man took a right at Fourth Avenue and Chilkoot Way without stopping at the red light.

The Toyota kept slowing down, then speeding up again, and Walker could see the driver fumbling with something on the left side of his body.

The corporal saw that both windows were open, and as he pulled up beside the Toyota, he saw the driver lean over to the passenger side. He finally forced the car to stop by pulling in front.

Guan was the driver of the car, as Walker had suspected. He was arrested for evading a police officer and Walker searched the vehicle, in which he found $365 in cash, but no drugs.

The RCMP's canine unit had better luck, however. Cpl. Rod Hamilton and his canine counterpart, Ryder, searched along the route the Toyota had taken after Walker made eye contact with Guan.

Hamilton spotted a clear baggy containing a white powder at the entrance to the Canadian Tire store parking lot, and Ryder's nose said it was drugs.

Investigators later confirmed it contained seven "spit balls” of cocaine, weighing just over 11 grams in total and worth approximately $4,000 on the street.

On arresting Guan, Walker also seized the man's cell phone, and later that day received a call.

"Can you do McDonald's?” the caller asked.

"Yeah, what do you need?” Walker replied.

"Three,” the caller said.

A half-hour later, Walker drove to the McDonald's restaurant in full uniform and questioned the man he found standing at the pay phone. The man admitted he was the caller and said he was buying for his personal use.

During the trial, Guan protested his innocence, saying he was going home to pick up his wife and did not stop when he heard the sirens because the practice in China is to keep driving to get out of the way.

Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale rejected that excuse, pointing out he was driving in the opposite direction of his home.

"It is no excuse that he had a contrary practice more than five years ago in China,” he said of the man's failure to stop.

He also rejected Guan's defence that he does not speak enough English to conduct a drug deal (Guan was assisted by a translator at trial).

Veale found Guan guilty. He has not yet been sentenced but remains in custody.