POLICE SWEEPS IN QUEBEC BREAK HELLS ANGELS DRUG RING

ST-BASILE-LE-GRAND, Que. - In a second major sweep of the Hells Angels in
less than three years, police say they have dismantled a second wave of
gangsters who tried to take control of Montreal's drug trade.

More than 400 police officers yesterday participated in a massive operation
targeting 63 people, including 12 of the 17 members of the Hells Angels
South chapter, based in St-Basile-le-Grand, about 35 kilometres southeast
of Montreal, said Surete du Quebec Sgt. Richard Bourdon.

According to court documents, the investigation was aided by an informant
named Martin Roy, a 31-year-old member of a now-defunct Hells Angels puppet
gang called the Evil Ones.

By late yesterday, police had arrested 40 people, including Eric Bouffard,
38, a member of the South chapter. Mr. Bouffard, who is on parole, is
charged with loansharking and gangsterism.

The Hells Angels Nomad chapter was effectively shut down in 2001 when
police conducted a similar operation. The goal then was to dismantle an
organization run by the members of the elite Nomad chapter who presided
over a violent puppet gang called the Rockers.

Sgt. Bourdon said police knew someone would try to fill the void left by
the Nomads and the Rockers to run the profitable cocaine and hashish
operations, worth an estimated $111 million a year.

A 30-month investigation by a number of police forces identified dealers
and a network of four cells.

The Hells Angels South chapter was formed in 1997, 20 days after the
federal anti-gang law, by nine gang members who had not been convicted of a
crime in the previous five years, so it didn't meet the definition of
criminal gang under the federal law, said Guy Ouellette, a retired Surete
du Quebec investigator and an expert on biker gangs.