COPS ARREST DOZENS IN BIKER CLUB SWEEP

More than 21 police tactical teams -- including officers from Windsor
- -- fanned out across southern Ontario Thursday, arresting dozens of
motorcycle gang members in pre-dawn raids targeting Hells Angels,
Vagabonds and their associates.

"Project Tandem is quite likely the largest investigation of this
type in Ontario history," OPP spokesman Sgt. Bob Paterson said of an
18-month operation involving approximately 500 police officers.

With the raids and cleanup operations continuing through Thursday,
Paterson said details of the charges, court appearances and seized
property -- weapons, narcotics and vehicles -- would not be divulged
until a news conference today in Toronto.

The alleged illegal activities under investigation include organized
crime offences and counselling to commit murder. The items seized
were weapons, drugs and stolen property, including vehicles.

"Those activities are going to be significantly interrupted,"
Paterson said of organized biker activities in the province.

Police describe the Hells Angels, who moved into Ontario in 2000 with
a massive "patch-over" of smaller clubs, as the largest outlaw
motorcycle gang in Canada. The Vagabonds are another Ontario-based
motorcycle gang, albeit mostly absorbed into the Hells Angels organization.

The Hells Angels' Windsor chapter compound on Howard Avenue in
Amherstburg was cordoned off with police tape Thursday.
Machine-pistol toting Windsor police tactical team officers in two
marked Ford Excursions blocked off the entrance as detectives and
other officers came and went from the clubhouse that had hosted a
large national gathering of Hells Angels this summer.

Three men sporting Hells Angels insignias on their clothing and skin
arrived and spoke briefly to officers but were told a search warrant
was being executed and they could not enter.

Similar police actions took place at the same time in the Toronto,
Hamilton and Niagara regions by local police services, the OPP and
the RCMP. A total of 11 police forces were involved in the joint
Project Tandem, which focused on street-level crime in communities
across Ontario.

Officers with weapons drawn reportedly stormed into the change rooms
of a 24-hour fitness club in Mississauga, surprising semi-clothed
members who were frisked and questioned.

Most of those arrested in the police raids were being transported to
Toronto's 42 Division, said Paterson, but some were being processed
in the jurisdictions where they were nabbed.

Windsor police spokesman Staff Sgt. Ed McNorton said no information
could be released locally on Thursday. He suggested it was because
Project Tandem operations were continuing through the day.

Windsor police Supt. Dave Pickford will be among the senior officers
attending this morning's joint forces news conference in Toronto.