A Toronto-area police officer is being hailed for his thorough work on the job, after a licence plate check led to the recovery of six children reported abducted from Alberta.

Durham police say the officer became suspicious when he noticed six children in a green SUV with Alberta plates, at a parking lot in Bowmanville, Ont. The officer ran the plates through the police database and discovered they belonged to a vehicle sought in an abduction investigation in Calgary.

The children, who are between the ages of 18 months and 11 years old, were recovered safe and sound and will be returned home.

A 49-year-old man was later arrested without incident on a Canada-wide warrant. The man "identified himself readily to the officers," Durham Police Sgt. Bill Calder said.

Calder said the identification was "great work done by our officer," and added that it's "unusual" for so many children to go missing at once.

The man, whose name was not released to protect the identities of the children, is now facing six counts of abduction of a child under 14, Calgary Police said Thursday.

The man is the common-law partner of the children’s mother, who reported them missing on Monday, Calgary Police Sgt. Darren Smith told reporters.

Although the man had been in the children’s lives for a long period of time, he had no legal authority to take them out of province, Smith said.

However, throughout their investigation, Calgary police never believed that the children were in danger, he said. That’s why an Amber Alert was never issued.

The children went missing while their mother was away from home for a period of time, Smith said. She had left the kids in the accused man’s care, but he had no permission to take them out of the Calgary area, he added.

Smith said police knew “early on” that the man had left for Ontario, where he has family members. The man kept in touch with a Calgary police “partner agency” via email, and let that agency know that he was Ontario, Smith said. He refused to say which agency that was.  

The accused had a brief court appearance in an Oshawa, Ont. courtroom and will face charges upon his return to Calgary.

Smith said police and other agencies are also working to bring the children back home and reunite them with their mother “as soon as possible.”

With files from The Canadian Press