Three men with B.C. and Hells Angels links have been arrested on cocaine trafficking charges as part of a massive police sweep headed out of Montreal.
White Rock Hells Angel Larry Amero was picked up in Montreal, along with Shane (Wheels) Maloney, a B.C. native living in Quebec who has been spending long stretches in Vancouver.
Also charged is Rabib Alkhalil, a former Lower Mainland man who now lives in Ottawa. Two of Alkhalil’s brothers have been murdered in B.C. in the last decade. One was found dumped in Stanley Park. The other died in the infamous Loft Six shooting.
Amero, Maloney and Alkhalil are believed to have major drug trafficking links in B.C. and are considered to be part of the reason Metro Vancouver has been embroiled in a bloody gang war that has left dozens dead in the last three years.
Amero himself narrowly escaped death when the Porsche Cayenne he was driving in Kelowna in August 2011 was ambushed by masked gunman outside a casino. Gangster Jon Bacon was killed. Amero was left disabled.
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Amero later moved to Montreal.
Maloney was charged in Montreal a year ago for allegedly beating a Montreal police man on vacation in Mexico in January 2011. The officer was attacked after he snapped photos of suspected Hells Angels at a bar.
Maloney has been staying in Yaletown during frequent visits to Vancouver.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit-B.C. worked with police in Montreal on the case.
The huge police operation, led by the Sûreté du Québec and involved the RCMP, the Montreal police and other regional squads, took place before dawn Thursday to crack down on a vast drug operation implicating organized crime across Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
Over 1,000 officers armed with 100 arrest warrants swooped down on 30 towns and cities, including Montreal.
The focus of the arrest is trafficking of cocaine and other drugs, said SQ spokesperson Gregory Gomez. He declined to comment on which branch of organized crime was involved but speculation is that more than one recognized group was targeted.
By 7 a.m., dozens of arrests had taken place and the SPVM operations centres were kept hopping with a steady stream of squad cars bringing more people in to be processed.
In Laval, 70 uniformed officers were involved as well as both S.W.A.T. teams in the 21 arrest warrants for that region, said Laval police spokesperson Franco DiGenova.
The SQ will be holding a press conference at 2 p.m. to explain the process and the results of this latest investigation.
with files from the Montreal Gazette
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