MACHIAS – Police said Wednesday that they have arrested a Down East man who had eluded them for almost three weeks on drug charges.

Maine State Police and Washington County sheriff’s deputies had been looking for Daniel R. McLean, 39, of Northfield since July 2, when an arrest warrant was issued that charged him with unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, marijuana cultivation, illegal possession of a hypodermic apparatus, and sale and use of drug paraphernalia.

Trooper Pat Hood of the Maine State Police said he arrested McLean in Friendship at 11 p.m. Tuesday after Hood received a report from a Friendship resident that McLean was driving a vehicle without the owner’s permission.

Hood said he found the car and stopped the driver, who identified himself as Dan McLean. After learning of the arrest warrant from dispatch, Hood said, he arrested McLean without incident and took him to the Knox County Jail.

The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, the trooper said.

Washington County Sheriff Joseph Tibbetts said McLean was released on $600 bail just after 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.

State police issued a warrant for McLean’s arrest on July 2 after a search of his home on Route 192 in Northfield.

The Maine State Police obtained a search warrant after Trooper Jeffrey Ingemi saw marijuana plants in McLean’s home the previous evening when he attempted to serve him with a temporary protection order on an unrelated matter.

Officers searching the home found marijuana plants and seeds; pills, including methadone; burned spoons with white residue; and hypodermic needles.