It’s been almost five months since a joint police operation targeting Outlaw biker gangs in the region wrapped up.
Kingston police and Ontario Provincial Police launched “Project Stokes” in the fall of 2020.
The investigation was culminated with police raids in the past spring at two homes in Kingston, and at an outlaws motorcycle clubhouse in Wilton, Ont.
“There was a time when Kingston maybe didn’t have as strong a presence of outlaw motorcycle gangs as they do now. However, we have noticed there’s been a gradual increase in the number of motorcycle gang members,” said OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Scott Wade, of the biker enforcement unit (BEU.)
Wade says most of that growth has been found in support clubs associated with the three largest biker clubs in Ontario: the Outlaws, Hells Angels and Bacchus Motorcycle Club.
“There’s dozens of them, and I wouldn’t go through naming them all, but obviously the Red Devils motorcycle club is a very strong support club to the Hells Angels and the Black Pistons is a very strong support club to the Outlaws,” Wade said.
Motorcycle gangs are involved in just about every form of crime imaginable, according to Wade.
“The highest level white collar frauds, drug importation and trafficking, obviously human trafficking, anything that can make a dollar.”
At the end of April this year, provincial police and Kingston police executed search warrants at an Outlaws motorcycle clubhouse in Wilton and two homes in Kingston, seizing fentanyl, cocaine, weapons and cash.
Police say at the time, Outlaws wrote in an email they were “in shock,” and said no members were arrested. They also said the weapons, drugs and cash seized by police did not come from the clubhouse.
Though the clubhouse is believed to be closed in Wilton, police say a chapter of the Outlaws remains active in Kingston.
They encourage anyone that witnesses anything in relation to motorcycle clubhouses, or of concern to contact police or crime stoppers.