Police conducted a new search of the Hells Angels on Wednesday evening, this time to seize firearms believed to belong to the criminal organization. The attack on several buildings in an agricultural settlement took place in Frampton in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, near Quebec.
Published yesterday at 7:52 p.m.
A total of almost 25 police officers were on duty. It was the National Squad for the Repression of Organized Crime (ENRCO), which brought together several police forces, that was responsible for this umpteenth operation against the Hells Angels.
In addition to the Quebec and Lévis police services, which were called in to provide reinforcements, the Tactical Intervention Group (GTI) of the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) was also called to the scene. A sign that the authorities don’t want to leave anything to chance; a dog handler and the forensics service were also on site.
“It is linked to organized crime and in particular the Hells Angels. “It started around 7 p.m. on our side, in the second row,” said Sergeant Louis-Philippe Bibeau, spokesman for the SQ, when reached by phone on Wednesday.
At the end of the evening, the Sûreté du Québec indicated in a preliminary report that three men were arrested at the scene and may face charges of arms trafficking. The police also confiscated several weapons and ammunition.
According to our information, the premises attacked may belong to the Dark Souls, a Hells Angels school club that has been based in Frampton for five years. This all comes at a time when a conflict is in full swing in the Quebec region between the Hells Angels and an independent drug trafficker, which has raised fears of excesses among the police.
A growing phenomenon
This type of search has been increasing in recent months. In mid-September, police conducted a series of early morning searches in Mauricie to uncover a network of drug traffickers linked to the Hells Angels. The operation was then linked to other searches conducted on the northern edge of Montreal in late August.
A little earlier, on August 30, investigators had also searched 14 locations, particularly in Montreal and on the North Shore. They then seized approximately ten kilograms of cocaine, methamphetamine, vehicles and more than $150,000 in cash.
So far, the police claim to have gotten their hands on at least fifteen kilograms of cocaine as well as 130,000 methamphetamine tablets, twelve kilograms of crystal meth and varying amounts of various other drugs as part of the Raquer investigation that began in the spring.
According to law enforcement, 15 long guns, three handguns, 11 prohibited or imitation weapons, three cocaine presses, $760,000 in cash and approximately twenty vehicles were also seized.
With Daniel Renaud, La Presse