Oceanside police had already spotted the burglary suspect inside the strip mall early Friday morning. They knew he was in the building. Question was, where?

The answer came after officers flew a drone between the ceiling tiles and the roof of the building, where they found their suspect feigning sleep before he partially fell through the tiles, Oceanside police said in a news release Friday.

Just after 3:15 a.m., police responded to a burglary alarm in a business on Mission Avenue just west of Canyon Avenue. When officers got there, they saw a suspect inside the premises, police said.

Several officers, including a K-9 unit from the Sheriff’s Office, searched inside but could not find him. They thought he might be in the ceiling crawlspace — so they put a drone above the ceiling tiles an

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