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Canadian police launch gang crackdown
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CANADIAN police launched a massive raid against the Hells Angels in Quebec on Wednesday morning, arresting about 120 people and seizing weapons, drugs and cash in its biggest crackdown ever against the outlaw biker gang.
The sweep was made by some 1,700 Quebec provincial police and Canadian Mounties, who struck in 77 cities across the province after a two-year investigation, a police official said.
``It is the largest operation of this kind in Quebec and maybe in Canada,'' Quebec's Public Security Minister told a packed news conference in Quebec City. ``It is certainly unprecedented.''
The raids come amid rising public anger against the Hells Angels, which is involved in a bloody turf war in Quebec over drugs with the rival Bandidos biker gang, also known as the Rock Machine.
A total of 138 arrests are expected in the one-day operation, with 119 already apprehended in Quebec. The arrests reached as far as Ontario and western Canada with at least one person detained in Vancouver, British Columbia, and another in Hamilton, Ontario, the official said.
``We have destabilized the Hells Angels, and we are convinced that (the operation) will have an immediate effect on the drug trafficking,'' Royal Canadian Mounted Police corporal Leo Monbourquette reported.
Police in Quebec are in contact with authorities in other provinces where the Hells Angels have operations and with US law enforcement agencies, he said. Bikers are expected to be jailed in Montreal and would appear in court on Thursday morning.
About 150 bikers have been killed in armed attacks and bombings of restaurants, bars and biker clubhouses in Quebec since the gang war began in July 1994.
(SD-Agencies)
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