LEWISTON – A drug trafficking suspect who fled from police early Tuesday was arrested on weapons charges after officers found a handgun stashed above ceiling tiles in a downtown apartment.

Investigators said good police work and a loud conversation at the county jail led to the additional charges against the Massachusetts man.

In all, three New Bedford men were arrested after police went to Bates Street at about 5:15 a.m. to investigate a report of someone breaking into an apartment.

Police who went to 287 Bates St. said they found two men near the tenement where the complaint had been made.

One man, 24-year-old B.J. Almelda, was arrested at the scene on outstanding warrants. Police were questioning a second suspect when a foot chase ensued.

“The officers were patting him down just as a precaution. He took off running,” said Lewiston police Sgt. Michael McGonagle.

Police said the man who ran was 19-year-old Evans Stroman, who cut between buildings in an attempt to elude the officers.

Police caught up with Stroman as he tried to hide inside an apartment on Knox Street, McGonagle said. When he was arrested and searched, police said they found crack cocaine and knives on him.

Stroman was arrested on charges of trafficking in crack and trafficking in dangerous knives. He was taken to the Androscoggin County Jail.

Police said shortly after he was booked at the jail, an officer overheard a conversation between Stroman and another suspect. In that conversation, Stroman mentioned stashing a gun before he was arrested, police said.

“The officers went back to the Knox Street apartment,” McGonagle said. “They ended up finding a gun up in the ceiling tiles.”

Stroman was arrested on a third charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.

A third man, 20-year-old Jose Almelda, was arrested on a charge of obstructing government administration. Police said he tried to thwart the arrest of the other two suspects.

What remained unknown later Tuesday was why the three men were at 287 Bates St. when a tenant there reported an attempted burglary. Investigators said the three men are all from the New Bedford area. Police did not know why the men were in Lewiston.

Agents from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency were assisting in the investigation Tuesday night.

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