POLICE VOW TO KEEP HEAT ON BIKERS

30 Arraigned In Hull Court

Task Force Plans To Crack Down On Members Who Move In Following
Wednesday's Raids

Officials from the Joint Task Force say Operation Bobcat, Wednesday's
raid on the Evil Ones, destabilized the biker gang.

But even if all alleged members and the club's president were
arrested, police say that other puppet clubs affiliated with either
the Hells Angels or the Bandidos could spring up and take their place.

And the Joint Task Force, comprised of 13 members from seven area
police forces, vowed they will do to them exactly what they did to the
Evil Ones over the last 17 months: infiltrate, investigate and wiretap
until they have enough evidence to arrest and charge them with
gangsterism.

Sgt. Marcel Forget, leader of the investigative team, warned there
could be more raids like this one, as his team will be in operation
until March 2004.

The searches of 45 residences led to the arrests of 42 people. Arrest
warrants were issued yesterday against Robert Gratton, 42, of
Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette and Louis Thompson, 29, of Maniwaki.

But police say these two were "business associates" of the Evil Ones,
not full members.

The 10 alleged members, including the club's reputed president, Paul
Boucher, were denied bail at their arraignment yesterday at Hull's
courthouse. They will next appear in court on Tuesday.

Their lawyer, Jacques Belley, said it could take two to three weeks
before the bail hearing procedures are completed.

That's because the club members are charged with gangsterism under the
provisions set out by Bill C-95, the anti-gang law. In this case, the
defence bears the burden of proof to have clients released.

"To prove gangsterism, we have to show that these people committed
crimes for the gang, that they knew that when they did the crime, they
did it for the gang," said Betty Laurent, one of the two Crown
attorneys assigned to work full-time on the trial. "It's our only
case, we have time to prepare it," she said.

The police also had time to prepare Wednesday's operation. Before it,
they recorded 1,000 hours of conversations and had an agent
infiltrating the gang since March 2000.

The force proudly displayed to the media yesterday some of the
proceeds of Bobcat's searches: half a dozen "Evil Ones" vests, rifles,
a crossbow, computers used for accounting, sodium lights for indoor
marijuana cultivation and bags of cocaine.

In all, 30 guns were seized, as well as documentation on bomb
building. All 30 people accused yesterday faced drug charges, despite
the seizure of less than a kilogram of cocaine, and an equal amount of
hashish and marijuana.

"The idea was not to pop 10 or 15 kilos of drugs, but to take (the
gang) flat out of business," said Sgt. Marc Richer, the task force's
spokesman.

For the last three weeks, cocaine has been in short supply in the
area, said Sgt. Forget.

Police say the evidence will show the Evil Ones controlled "a
staggering quantity of drugs in the Outaouais."

Among the accused, there were family ties. Sgt. Richer said some
individuals -- who had not contacted their relations since the
Wednesday early morning raids -- were surprised to see "a mother, a
grandmother among the accused."

For example, Luc Grondin of Gatineau, an alleged member of the Evil
Ones, is charged, as is his mother Yvette Grondin, 67, of Maniwaki.
Her other son, Jean-Louis Grondin, 41, of Blind River, Ont., also
faces charges, as does sister Diane Grondin, 36, of Deleage, near
Maniwaki. Diane's husband, Pierre Lacoursiere, 40, also faces charges.

Twelve others were charged under summary conviction offences late
Wednesday.