According to the Surf City Police Department of North Carolina, the 20-year-old Zachary Kingsbury was stopped by officers about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday and was asked to step out of the car.

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The officers spotted what appeared to be illegal drugs inside the vehicle the 20-year-old was driving.

Police said Kingsbury ran into the ocean and started swimming out to sea.

The police department reportedly deployed a camera drone to track the swimming suspect and the aircraft managed to keep pace with Kingsbury for about an hour, but lost visual contact about 4,000 feet from shore.

The video recorded by the drone showed how Kingsbury narrowly eluded the attention of a shark swimming nearby Kingsbury at one point during his escape attempt.

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The search for Kingsbury intensified when the Coast Guard crews, the Surf City Fire Department, the North Topsail Police Department and other agencies joined the hunt.

Kingsbury was later located approximately 7:45 p.m. near the Wicker Avenue Beach Access in North Topsail Beach. He was taken to the Pender County Jail on multiple drug-related charges.