'WE'LL BE BACK,' COPS TELL PRINCE GEORGE GANGSTERS

Violent gangsters in Prince George got a surprise visit from B.C.'s
Uniform Gang Task Force this weekend.

Facing a wave of drug-related violence, the Prince George RCMP
requested a visit from the Lower Mainland-based gang unit, which was
formed in the wake of a bloody gang war in 2007 with a mandate to
clear gangsters and guns out of bars.

Const. Lesley Smith said Prince George police are seeing brutal
violence wreaked by mid-level players associated with Lower Mainland
gangs - such as Independent Soldiers and Game Tight Soldiers, and the
Renegades, a Hells Angels puppet club.

Police say these gangsters see Prince George as their launch pad to
break into the big leagues of drug dealing in the Lower Mainland.

"What we're seeing is gang members trying to get higher up in the
hierarchy" by sending out violent messages, especially with gruesome
debt-recollection tactics, Smith said.

Recently, there have been a number of gang associates kidnapped for
days and tortured, and people from the drug trade have gone missing,
she said.

Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the Uniform Gang Task Force said members of his
team recognized some familiar players from Lower Mainland gangs in
Prince George.

"What I noticed is that Prince George is a gateway to the north for
drug dealing," Kirk said. "There were significant signs of areas mired
in drug dealing and weapons."

Kirk said the task force was launched to confront gangsters in
hangouts such as Surrey strip clubs, but the force's six units now
gather intelligence and investigate gangs and travel the province to
pass their knowledge to local forces in gang hotspots such as Kelowna,
Kamloops and Prince George.

The task force could be making return trips to Prince George in the
near future, Kirk said.

During three night shifts in PG, the task force arrested three men and
evicted 14 gang associates from bars and restaurants, seized 320
ecstasy tabs at one home and made nine arrests for other various
offences, Smith said.

When police busted a known "crack shack" run by a local gang in the
2200 block Quince Street, seizing a loaded shotgun and escorting drug
dealers out of the residence, they were saluted by neighbours watching
from their balconies.

"People want to know something will be done when they call us," Smith
said.