An inmate who went missing two weeks ago from Ferndale Institution in Mission was arrested on Tuesday in Hope by RCMP officers there.

Prison staff at the federal minimum institution on Dewdney Trunk Road in Mission discovered that Walter George Saunders, 53, was missing during a standard bed check on Sept. 9.

The Correctional Service of Canada and the Mission RCMP issued an alert and warrant for his arrest.

On Sept. 18 at about 10:30 p.m., Hope RCMP officers spotted Saunders walking in a known “drug area” in the community at the eastern end of the Fraser Valley, said Mission Cpl. Mike Sukkau.

Saunders took off on foot, but was arrested 15 minutes later without incident.

Saunders was not carrying any weapons but Sukkau didn’t know if he was carrying any drugs.

Saunders was serving a sentence of two years and a day for possession of stolen property, operating motor vehicle for flight, taking a motor vehicle without consent, and a failure to comply with conditions of recognizance.