OXFORD – A pair of men were arrested early Wednesday after a midnight car chase that began in Minot and ended in Oxford.

Police said one of the suspects tried to sneak prescription drugs into the county jail while the other had tobacco secreted inside his body.

John Chick, 45, of 23 Green St., Biddeford, and Kyle Corey, 38, listed as a transient, were each charged with refusing to submit to arrest and trafficking in prison contraband.

Corey, who police said was driving the car, was also charged with eluding police, passing a a roadblock and violating probation.

He was charged with trafficking in prison contraband after jail officials found prescription drugs on him while he was being booked at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn, police said.

Being booked at the same time, Chick excreted a bag of tobacco from a body cavity while he was being searched, according to Maine State Police Trooper Nathan Jamo.

Police believe Chick inserted the bag of tobacco shortly after police stopped the car with spike mats on Route 121 in Oxford.

The chase began at midnight when Jamo and Trooper Ricci Cote clocked the car passing them at 17 mph over the limit on Route 121 in Minot, Jamo said. He said as the troopers approached the stopped Nissan Maxima, the driver sped away.

State Police called for help from police in Mechanic Falls, Oxford and Oxford County as the chase headed in that direction. Jamo said the car was being driven dangerously as police followed it.

“We were heading westbound and he was driving in the eastbound lane,” Jamo said.

The chase lasted 10 minutes and covered 7.5 miles. The car was stopped after four tires were blown out a short distance from the intersection of routes 121 and 26.

Jamo said it was later learned that the Maxima had been recently reported stolen from Portland and that it was believed to have been involved in a hit-and-run crash in Biddeford. That part of the case was still being investigated Wednesday night.

Chick and Corey, who Jamo said are well-known by police in Knox County, remained at the Androscoggin County Jail on Wednesday night.