RCMP officers have arrested a border runner with the help of an alert truck driver and a fortuitous traffic collision.

At around 3 a.m. last Thursday, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers at the Beaver Creek crossing refused entry to an American man because of his lengthy criminal record.

The 40-year-old seemed to comply, and started driving back toward the U.S. border.

He then made an abrupt U-turn and careened down the opposite side of the road, past the CBSA building and southbound on the Alaska Highway through the town of Beaver Creek, the RCMP said today.

Const. Scott Guthrie began to patrol south from Beaver Creek along the highway after receiving the CBSA alert. He was later joined by Mounties from Haines Junction and Whitehorse.

Instead of the suspect, Guthrie found an unrelated traffic collision at the Duke River Bridge.

As he assisted the motorist, a truck driver responded to the RCMP's suspect and vehicle description — put out earlier on radio — to let them know the man was now driving north along the highway right toward the bridge.

Guthrie left the accident scene, spotted the suspect and pulled him over at around 10 a.m.

"He looked perfectly normal, and he was completely co-operative,” Guthrie said.

"But he wasn't happy that he was denied entry into Canada.”

Guthrie added the man's goal was to reach the 49th parallel and re-enter the United States: "His initial plan was to make it to the lower 48.”

Police turned the man over to the CBSA.

The man, whose name wasn't released, faces charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act as well as multiple fines.