HELLS LAWYER HELD IN SWEEP

Benoit Cliche Is Among 31 Charged As 300 Cops Move In After 18-Month
Probe

Benoit Cliche is usually not in custody when he appears at an
arraignment.

But yesterday, the lawyer, with more than two decades of experience,
appeared in Montreal court via a video linkup at the Riviere des
Prairies jail to face charges he trafficked in cocaine for a criminal
organization with ties to the Hells Angels.

According to police sources, Cliche is suspected of helping convicted
drug dealer Steven (Bull) Bertrand, 37, to move large quantities of
cocaine while the latter was behind bars at the federal job-training
penitentiary in Laval.

The lawyer represented Bertrand - a close associate of Hells Angels
leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher and one of a few independent drug dealers
tolerated by the Hells Angels in Montreal during the biker war - in a
cocaine trafficking case that ended this year with a 7-year prison
sentence.

Bertrand was also among those charged yesterday.

Besides being accused again of trafficking in cocaine, he is charged
with conspiring to murder a high-ranking member of the Bandidos biker
gang in spring 2002.

Cliche, who has also represented several members of the Hells Angels
in court, was arrested yesterday morning in a police sweep involving
the arrest of at least 31 people in different parts of Quebec,
including 23 in and around Montreal.

Police also seized more than $4 million in assets owned by some of
those arrested.

Police Operation Hurricane "targeted four different cells that
operated in different areas, namely Mont Laurier, Montreal and St.
Hubert" and Gatineau, said Constable Nathalie Deschenes, a
spokesperson for the regional task force based in the Outaouais region.

More than 300 officers participated in the raids and arrests, which
were the result of an 18-month investigation.

Deschenes said the operation targeted four different cells of an
organization that trafficked in marijuana and cocaine.

"Those cells all had people who had a relationship with known members
of the Hells Angels," Deschenes said.

Among the seizures made yesterday was a mansion in a small town near
Gatineau owned by Pierre (Cash) Larose, 39, one of the people
arrested. His house in Lac Simon is worth more than $2.3 million,
according to police.

The police also searched and seized items at Bertrand's spacious home
in Boucherville, which was decorated for both Halloween and Christmas.

Two of those arrested, Pierre Simard and Martin Vallee, are alleged to
be part of Bertrand's cell.

Cliche's lawyer, Louis Belleau, entered a not-guilty plea on behalf of
his client and tried to expedite a bail hearing. But as one defence
lawyer noted, the Crown has "volumes of evidence" to sort through and
Cliche is likely to remain behind bars until late next week.

Cliche faces four charges. He is accused of conspiring to traffic in
cocaine and of conspiring to traffic in coke with Bertrand between
February and November, while the latter was behind bars. He is also
accused of trafficking in drugs for the profit, or under the direction
of, a criminal organization and facilitating a crime for the benefit
of a gang.

Also arrested yesterday was Rene Guevremont, 49, a man described by
police sources as having close ties to the Hells

Angels' elite Nomads chapter, including a stint as a chauffeur for a
Nomads member. He is alleged to have headed a cell that trafficked in
cocaine in the Laurentians.

Stephane Sevigny, 35, another person who was already behind bars when
the police carried out their operation yesterday, is believed to be
the only person charged in Montreal yesterday who is a member of a
gang. Sevigny is alleged to be have been a striker, or underling, in
the Rockers, a Hells Angels satellite gang. He is serving a three-year
sentence for cocaine trafficking.

Along with Bertrand, Sevigny now faces charges of conspiring to murder
Bandido member Normand Whissel.

Most of the 11 people charged in Montreal court yesterday are
scheduled to have a bail hearing Nov. 13.