NANAIMO, B.C. - The mystery of the travelling pants is officially solved. The box of new tactical pants found in central Nanaimo belonged to a City of Nanaimo work crew, and it fell off a work truck without anyone noticing.
A Good Samaritan found the box, containing several pairs of 5.11 tactical pants still in their original packaging, and turned it over to police on October 20, 2026. Nanaimo RCMP issued a public appeal the next day, asking the owner to come forward and identify the style, colour and size.
A city crew member’s pants
Following the media coverage of the unusual discovery, Barry Hornby, a Community Safety Officer with the City of Nanaimo, contacted the RCMP to report that the pants belonged to a member of his crew.
According to Hornby, the box had inadvertently been left on one of the crew’s work trucks as they were responding to a call for service. Somewhere along the route, the box fell from the vehicle without anyone noticing.
“As far as the crew is concerned, this is an ‘im-pizza-able offence’,” joked Hornby.
Case closed
The recovered pants will soon be reunited with their rightful owner, police say, bringing the case to a successful conclusion.
The Nanaimo RCMP thanked the Good Samaritan who found the box and did the right thing by turning it in to police, saying their honesty and effort ensured the lost property made its way back to its owner.
It is a tidy ending to a small mystery: a box that took a detour off a work truck, an honest stranger, and a work crew that will soon be back in uniform, one pair of pants at a time.
Sources: Nanaimo RCMP Media Advisory, “Police seek to solve mystery of travelling pants,” File 2026-35238, October 21, 2026; Nanaimo RCMP Media Advisory update, “Mystery of the travelling pants – case closed,” File 2026-35238, October 21, 2026.
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