THIRTY ARRESTED AS POLICE RAID BIKER GANGS

Multiple police raids early this morning led to the arrests of at
least 30 people associated with two biker gangs in the GTA.

Dubbed Project Develop, the 18-month investigation by the provincial
Biker Enforcement Unit -- a joint task force made up of 18 police law
enforcement agencies including Toronto police, OPP and the RCMP --
used search warrants to enter locations across the province including
at least 12 in the GTA, OPP Const. Pam Higham said.

Tactical teams armed with warrants for members of the country's
largest biker gang, the Hells Angels, and the lesser known Bacchus
Motorcycle Club, began simultaneous raids at 6 a.m., she said.

It's confirmed that the arrest warrants were for gun and drug-related offences.

One of the locations targeted was the Hells Angels clubhouse on
Eastern Ave. at Logan where teams used a hook on the back of a truck
to pull out one of the walls.

Police would not confirm if they have, in fact, seized the infamous
clubhouse but by 11:30 a.m. they were seen ceremoniously taking down
the organization's sign and pulling skulls and other paraphernalia
off the outside of the building.

"We're still waiting for the teams to come back before we can compile
the list of all the people arrested, all the charges and all the
property seized," Higham said.

Raids connected to this project were also executed in British
Columbia and New Brunswick.

"Certainly, there will be several people taken into custody," OPP
Sgt. Bob Patterson said early this morning. "We've got a couple hours
of work ahead of us."

The investigation is ongoing and police are still withholding
information until a press conference this afternoon.

But shortly after the raids began, photos of the raided Eastern Ave.
clubhouse were posted online on affiliated Hells Angels websites,
along with comments condemning police and media for "attacking" their group.

The last major Hells Angels sweep on Sept. 28, 2006, involved 500
police who swooped down and arrested dozens of bikers following an
investigation that uncovered a murder plot and provided law
enforcement with ammunition to go after their major assets, including
motorcycles.

Twenty-one tactical teams backed up investigators in the pre-dawn
raids at the Hells Angels chapter in Oshawa during which members of
the Hells Angels and the Vagabonds were taken into custody.

At least a dozen of those charged are full-fledged patched members of
the clubs while the rest were "associates," possibly members of
puppet clubs controlled by the Hells Angels.