About noon on Saturday, April 27, Manning Great Lakes Police District officers saw a 25-year-old man, who was known to them, carrying a camouflaged back pack in the car park of Taree's Manning Mall.

The man was speaking to another man before he saw police nearby. He then walked quickly towards a vehicle in the car park and got into the passenger seat.

A woman in the driver's seat and the man immediately became aggressive towards police.

While speaking to the man, officers spotted cannabis in the front passenger door. Police then removed the man from the vehicle and began to search him.

While searching him, officers felt what was believed to be a knife handle in the front waist section of his pants.

As police attempted to remove the item, the man ran from police along Wynter Street.

He then ran into a premises on Wynter Street after throwing his back pack under a motor vehicle.

The man then attempted to scale the back fence but was unsuccessful. He was detained and arrested by police.

When searched, a blue handled folding knife was located in the front waist band of his pants.

Police then located the back pack, which contained seven resealable bags containing a crystal substance, believed to be methyl amphetamine, another resealable bag containing three and a half orange tablets, believed to be MDMA, numerous resealable plastic bags and other drug related paraphernalia.

The man was taken to Taree Police Station and charged with custody of a knife in a public place, two counts of supplying a prohibited drug and two counts of possessing a prohibited drug.