COPS NAB AT LEAST 40 BIKERS IN RAIDS

MONTREAL -- Hells Angels drug dealers have been thrown into disarray after
raids yesterday struck their lucrative operations in the Montreal area,
police said. The bikers had begun to recover from massive raids in 2001
when police task force officers backed by tactical teams and a
battering-ram-equipped armoured car fanned out in 33 cities and towns.

"They were getting back on track," Const. Pierre Chouinard said of the
Angels. "They were taking over pretty well what they had before," said
Chouinard, a spokesman for a police anti-biker squad grouping Quebec
provincial, municipal and RCMP officers.

"They were starting to eliminate the small pushers again. From what I know,
we stopped them dead in their tracks."

Forty bikers had been arrested in the sweep by mid-afternoon as raids
continued. They were to be arraigned later on charges including
gangsterism, conspiracy and drug trafficking.

Among the arrested were 12 full-patch members of the Angels' South chapter,
three Angels from Montreal, one member of the Rockers puppet club and four
members of the Evil Ones affiliate, which is marking its seventh
anniversary this weekend.

About 400 police took part in the raids, carrying 27 search warrants and 63
arrest warrants. One of the places hit was the South chapter clubhouse in
St-Basile-le-Grand, east of Montreal, one of three main Hells clubhouses
remaining in Quebec.

The South chapter of the Angels allegedly ran drug operations in Montreal
and on the island's north and south shores.

"When we arrested the (Angels) Nomads, it's certain that a void was created
in the drug trade," Chouinard said. "We knew somebody had to take over that
void and the South chapter of the Angels was the designated group."

The ruthless Nomads, led by Maurice (Mom) Boucher, were the generals in the
vicious seven-year war over Montreal's lucrative drug turf. Most of the
chapter was arrested in the Operation Springtime 2001 raids and Boucher is
serving a life sentence for his part in the slayings of two prison guards.

"They had become quite strong," Chouinard said of the South chapter. "They
had four cells working under them to sell drugs, mainly speed, cocaine,
marijuana and ecstasy."

The raids came as a jury deliberated on the fate of nine other bikers
rounded up in the 2001 raids and charged with murder, gangsterism and drug
charges.

Yesterday's sweep was the culmination of a 30-month investigation that
began shortly after Operation Springtime.