WITNESS ALLEGES POLICE PRESSURE

Agent WHO Infiltrated Hells Angels Says He Wanted to Quit

A former Vancouver tough guy who infiltrated the Hells Angels while
working for the police testified Thursday at a drug trial that he was
getting tired and burned-out as the investigation drew to a close.

Michael Plante said he wanted to stop being a paid police agent by
October, 2004, but his handlers talked him into continuing.

"They didn't want me to quit," the Crown's star witness told B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Victor Curtis.

Plante said his handlers told him they wanted "to get more guys in the
club" -- a reference to a number of Hells Angels who were targets of
the investigation.

"We can't stop right now," the police agent was told by one of his
handlers. When Plante asked how much he would be paid if he quit, the
officer told him it would be a substantial amount of money, but added:
"Even $1 million won't buy you a house in downtown Vancouver."

"They put a lot of pressure on you not to back out," defence lawyer
Don Morrison suggested to Plante, who agreed.

The evidence was heard at the trial of Hells Angels member Ronaldo
Lising and Nima Ghavami. Lising is charged with possession of
methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking and Ghavami is charged
with trafficking crystal methamphetamine.

Plante, who begins his fifth day of testimony today at the Vancouver
Law Courts, described how he was stressed out during the
investigation, which involved carrying a recording device when meeting
with Hells Angels members at the East End chapter's clubhouse and when
socializing with associates of the motorcycle gang.

Plante, 39, began as a police agent in April 2004, when he was
promised $30,000. Two months later he signed a contract for $1 million
in reward money.

He testified he was paid $500,000 in August 2005, after the
investigation concluded and 18 men were charged, including sex Hells
Angels members. He will be paid the remaining $500,000 after all the
trials are over.

He was given a new name and is living in an undisclosed
location.

Plante said he was also paid up to $14,000 a month, plus expenses,
including a $2,000 dinner, tickets to a B.C. Lions game and $800 for
six tickets to see comedian Jerry Seinfeld, which were not used.

Plante was heard on one tape recording in a heated discussion with his
police handlers, who told him he couldn't take part in any intentional
violence while a police agent and couldn't buy any drugs without
police approval.

He said he found those rules difficult because at the time he and
Ghavami were working as bouncers at the Cecil Hotel strip club on
Granville Street, where there were sometimes three fights on a Friday
night.

While working as a police agent, Plante applied to become a Hells
Angels member. Previously, he had been hired as "muscle" to collect
debts for the Hells Angels. He admitted he once shot a man, Audey
Hanson, who survived.

Plante's evidence was heard this week as part of an abuse-of-process
application filed by Morrison and Lising's lawyer Greg DelBigio.

The application seeks a stay of proceedings against the accused,
arguing the police agent was involved in assaults and other crimes
that were not authorized by the RCMP.

Federal prosecutor Martha Devlin is expected to begin questioning
Plante today.