Hells Angels MC targeted in early morning raids

Quebec, Canada (February 14, 2019) BTN —  A total of 32 people were arrested in a series of early morning raids on Thursday targeting drug-trafficking networks in eastern Quebec and New Brunswick with alleged ties to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

The raids, conducted by the Sûreté du Québec, were carried out in 20 different communities across the two provinces, including in the Lower St. Lawrence region, the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands.

Among the objects police seized were jackets bearing Hells Angels insignia. (Sûreté du Québec)

The SQ says that, in a period of just four months, the trafficking network brought in $2.4 million, of which $250,000 was given directly to the Hells Angels as a distribution tax.

"The Hells Angels control the territory and allowed networks to sell drugs. Those networks then paid a tax based on the quantity of drugs sold," SQ spokesperson Capt. Guy Lapointe said at a news conference in Quebec City.

"The Hells Angels have a monopoly, which they maintain with a regime of fear, violence and with their colours."

Among those arrested were prominent members of the New Brunswick Hells Angels chapter, police say.

They are still searching for four other alleged participants in the network

The people who were arrested today will appear in the courthouses of the Magdalen Islands, Percé, Rimouski and Quebec City.

Among the objects police seized were:

Six kilograms of cocaine.

More than 232,000 methamphetamine tablets.

More than $640,000.

23 firearms.

Three vehicles.

Eight vests with Hells Angels insignia.

Officers from the SQ's organized crime squad and its North Shore branch were involved in the raids, she said.

The operation, launched in August 2018, is called the Oursin project. More than 150 police officers participated in the investigations.

SOURCE:  CBC

False report leads to Hells Angels raid

Ghent, Belgium (February 12, 2019) BTN —  The police action in the Ghent borough Gentbrugge at the club room of motorcycle club Hells Angels came after a 44-year-old man claimed that he had heard gunshots in a quarrel in the room. Meanwhile, the man confessed that his report was false, reports the Ghent department of the parquet East Flanders.

The 44-year-old man from Ghent phoned the local police around 21.20, stating that he had heard several gunshots in the Hells Angels club room. 'According to the report, there would be a quarrel and some people would have fled the room', says press magistrate An Schoonjans of the Ghent department of the public prosecutor of East Flanders.

There were deployed heavily armed agents, a helicopter and special units (POSA). Certainly two men were taken into a police combination. The police immediately went on the spot. The club room is located on the Brusselsesteenweg in Gentbrugge, near the entrance and exit of the E17.

The traffic coming from the exit was diverted by the special assistance team of the Ghent local police. 'All persons present had to leave the room and the police conducted a search,' says Schoonjans. "Nothing suspicious was found.

The eleven persons present were taken by the police for questioning, but they were allowed to go home after the call was false. ' The police started the action on Monday at 10 pm, which lasted until 0.30 am.

The caller could be identified and arrested by the police. 'During his interrogation last night he confessed that the appeal was false and that he made up the facts', says the press magistrate.

Criminal prosecution

The forty is no stranger to police and justice. He will be prosecuted, says the prosecutor. Should the case come to court, the Hells Angels might claim damages. But it will probably not come that far.

In 2016 there was a shooting at the club room, but the shooter was not found.

SOURCE: VTM NIEUWS

Bandidos MC publicly deny drug bust involvement

Melbourne, Australia  (February 11, 2019) BTN —  Two men faced court over a major $1.3 billion drug bust linked to a Mexican cartel as the Bandidos bikie club made an extraordinary statement condemning meth trafficking.

Federal police revealed on Friday that they had intercepted 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine bound for Australia – the largest meth seizure ever recorded on US soil and the biggest intercepted drug haul bound for Australia. Police said the record haul demonstrated a clear link between local outlaw bikie clubs and extremely sophisticated Mexican drug cartels.

Bandidos MC Clubhouse in Melbourne

But the Bandidos motorcycle club released an unusual statement on Monday, hotly denying having any link to the major haul. The drugs were "artfully concealed" inside a shipment of loudspeakers on a ship in Los Angeles, US authorities said.

Van Dung Le, 31, and Chi Cuong Vu, 25, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court after being extradited from Sydney last week.

Mr Vu, who appeared in court wearing a grey T-shirt with the word "obey" on the front, is charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin between October 28 last year and January 23. Mr Le, from the Sydney suburb of Hinchinbrook, is accused of importing methamphetamine to the Victorian town of Donnybrook as recently as last week.

Australian Federal Police display some of the drugs that were seized

He is charged with importing drugs since October last year.

Mr Vu, from Sydney's Bonnyrigg Heights, and Mr Le were remanded in custody.

The court heard Mr Le was withdrawing from cocaine.

Their appearances came after American nationals Nasser Abo Abdo, 52, and Leonor Fajardo, 46, who were both living in the Victorian town of Woodstock, faced court last Friday alongside 31-year-old Tuan Ngoc Tran, of Keilor Downs.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed Mr Abo Abdo, 52, had been a prominent figure in the audio equipment industry in California and ran a series of companies selling stereos, speakers, subwoofers and digital amplifiers.

The Alphasonik-branded audio equipment case used to smuggle the methamphetamines

Photos distributed by police showed the intercepted drugs were hidden inside boxes carrying the names Audiobahn and Alphasonik, two of the speaker companies operated by Mr Abo Abdo.

US court records show that Mr Abo Abdo filed for bankruptcy in California in 2008, claiming liabilities of US$4.6 million. His debts were discharged in 2010.

All five men have been remanded in custody and are due to return to court on June 17.

The Bandidos motorcycle club has rebuffed any suggestion it is linked to the drug haul, saying the distribution and possession of ice goes against the club's spirit and culture.

Bandidos MC Statement

"We, like most Australians, shared a sigh of relief that these drugs never reached our shores," the Bandidos said in a statement on Monday.

"The Bandido Motorcycle Club vehemently distance ourselves from this insidious scourge on humanity, in every way, shape and form.

"We categorically refute any suggestion of involvement whatsoever, in this or any other matter concerning ice." 

-Bandidos Motorcycle Club

AFP assistant commissioner Bruce Hill said on Friday a Mexican cartel, which he declined to name, was allegedly behind the drugs.

"The cartel is among one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking syndicates in the world," he said.

SOURCE:  Bay 93.9

Hells Angel MC member home raided

Providence, R.I. (February 9, 2019) BTN —  A full patch member of the Rhode Island Hells Angels motorcycle club who was charged with gun and drug crimes after a search of his North Providence home has been ordered held without bail.

Douglas Leedham, 54, is charged in Rhode Island federal court with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond ordered him held without bail because of the seriousness of the charges, some of which carry mandatory minimum sentences of five years.

“Certain of the offenses charged against him trigger the presumption under law that there are no bail conditions or combination of bail conditions that I can set that would reasonably assure the safety of the community or the defendant’s appearance to future court proceedings,” he said.

A “full patch” member is someone who has made it past the prospect phase and is given full membership, and can wear the full “Hells Angel” rocker patch. Leedham appeared in court Friday.

Federal authorities searched Leedham’s residence on Thursday, according to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island by Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Colin Woods.

Authorities found two pistols, a shotgun, a body armor vest, 44 grams of meth, 19 grams of cocaine, 35 knives, four hatchets, nine batons, a set of brass knuckles, $6,422 in cash and a suspected drug ledger, according to a court document. “Leedham admitted that the guns and drugs seized from the residence were his,” Woods wrote in the affidavit.

The Department of Justice recognizes the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club as an “outlaw motorcycle gang.” The gang, federal authorities said, has been involved in producing and selling methamphetamine, and other criminal activity including assault, extortion, homicide and money laundering. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club’s Rhode Island chapter is based in Providence, the FBI agent’s affidavit said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Daly Jr. told the judge that Leedham should be held because he is dangerous.

“The defendant had many weapons at this residence, of the variety... that would be useful as a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang,” he said. “So we believe, your honor, that this defendant does present a danger to the community.” There is also a possibility that Leedham could attempt to flee due to the seriousness of the charges against him, Daly said.

The 44 grams of methamphetamine found in Leedham’s home has been sent to a forensic lab for testing, and if it turns out to be 11-12 percent pure, Leedham would face a mandatory five-year minimum sentence, he said. Leedham’s attorney, William Dimitri, argued that Leedham didn’t present a danger or a flight risk.

His past gun conviction, Dimitri said, was due to the fact that Leedham had a license to carry in Massachusetts that had expired and he was waiting for it to be renewed. “It doesn’t negate the conviction...” he said. “But there were underlying circumstances that led to that conviction.”

According to the affidavit, Leedham was arrested by the Rhode Island State Police in December 2012 and charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possession of a weapon other than a firearm. Leedham was riding a motorcycle and had a vest identifying him as a “full patch” Hells Angels member, federal authorities said.

During the stop in 2012, Leedham had two knives, a ball peen hammer and a loaded pistol, the FBI agent’s affidavit said. He pleaded guilty in Superior Court to carrying a pistol without a license and got a five-year suspended sentence with five years of probation. Dimitri also said that Leedham has never been charged with a violent crime. In fact, he was the one who flagged down North Providence police on Dec. 29, 2018, he said.

That day, Leedham flagged down a North Providence police officer because one of two women driving in a gray GMC truck with him on Mineral Spring Avenue had become unconscious, according to the affidavit. Leedham told the police officer that the woman had taken either heroin or crystal methamphetamine, the affidavit said.

While the officer was giving the woman the overdose-reversal drug Narcan, the other one also became unconscious, apparently due to an overdose. Both went to a local hospital and survived. Dimitri said there isn’t necessarily a connection between the drugs the women overdosed on and the drugs found at Leedham’s residence.

“He’s the one that flagged down police, your honor, they weren’t chasing him,” Dimitri said. “To make the leap, I submit, that because methamphetamine was found on Feb. 7, that the methamphetamine or heroin whatever it was that they were O.D.ing on on Dec. 29 is somehow connected to Mr. leedham, there’s no nexus there.”

Leedham’s case will next be submitted to a grand jury, Dimitri said.

SOURCE: WPRI News