Hells Angels associates alleged to have run three drug trafficking cells
BN- After crippling the Hells Angels in Quebec over the past decade, police moved Wednesday to “neutralize” the gang’s underlings who had taken control of the biker gang’s drug operations.
Police arrested 25 people in a sweep in Montreal and across the South Shore. Most of those picked up are Hells Angels associates alleged to have run three drug trafficking cells since a police task force arrested almost all of the Hells Angels full-patch members in Quebec in 2009.
“They’re the people who took the place that had been left by bikers arrested following (police raids in 2001 and 2009),” said Surete du Quebec Lt. Guy Lapointe.
Four hundred officers from the Surete, Montreal police, the RCMP and several local police departments carried out 52 search warrants in 25 municipalities in Montreal and the South Shore.
Police seized more than $300,000 in cash, eight kilograms of cocaine, 24 firearms and other quantities of drugs in a sweep dubbed Operation Carcan.
Police also arrested underlings alleged to have been involved in a fourth drug trafficking network in New Brunswick.
Most of the Quebec suspects were arraigned Wednesday afternoon by video-conference. They face various charges, including drug trafficking, gangsterism, conspiracy and possession of weapons.
One of those arrested is Marc-Andre Lachance, who was charged last month in connection with the assault of an off-duty Montreal police officer in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen in January.
Lachance, 28, and Shane Kenneth Maloney were charged with intimidating a peace officer and conspiracy.
The vacationing police officer was badly beaten up at a bar in the resort town near Cancun.
Over the past 10 years, two major police investigations have brought the Hells Angels in Quebec to their knees.
In 2001, Operation Springtime took flamboyant kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher and other members of his Nomads chapter off the streets. In 2009, Operation SharQc netted 130 members of the Hells Angels, including almost all of the full-patch gang members left in Quebec and several associates.
However, last June, a judge released 31 of the suspects in the mega-trial because he didn’t feel they could be tried within a reasonable time frame.
Police arrested 25 people in a sweep in Montreal and across the South Shore. Most of those picked up are Hells Angels associates alleged to have run three drug trafficking cells since a police task force arrested almost all of the Hells Angels full-patch members in Quebec in 2009.
“They’re the people who took the place that had been left by bikers arrested following (police raids in 2001 and 2009),” said Surete du Quebec Lt. Guy Lapointe.
Four hundred officers from the Surete, Montreal police, the RCMP and several local police departments carried out 52 search warrants in 25 municipalities in Montreal and the South Shore.
Police seized more than $300,000 in cash, eight kilograms of cocaine, 24 firearms and other quantities of drugs in a sweep dubbed Operation Carcan.
Police also arrested underlings alleged to have been involved in a fourth drug trafficking network in New Brunswick.
Most of the Quebec suspects were arraigned Wednesday afternoon by video-conference. They face various charges, including drug trafficking, gangsterism, conspiracy and possession of weapons.
One of those arrested is Marc-Andre Lachance, who was charged last month in connection with the assault of an off-duty Montreal police officer in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen in January.
Lachance, 28, and Shane Kenneth Maloney were charged with intimidating a peace officer and conspiracy.
The vacationing police officer was badly beaten up at a bar in the resort town near Cancun.
Over the past 10 years, two major police investigations have brought the Hells Angels in Quebec to their knees.
In 2001, Operation Springtime took flamboyant kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher and other members of his Nomads chapter off the streets. In 2009, Operation SharQc netted 130 members of the Hells Angels, including almost all of the full-patch gang members left in Quebec and several associates.
However, last June, a judge released 31 of the suspects in the mega-trial because he didn’t feel they could be tried within a reasonable time frame.
Hells Angels associates alleged to have run three drug trafficking cells
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November 24, 2011
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