The integrated police unit tasked with tackling gang crime in British Columbia announced dozens of charges against a trio of Vancouver Island Hells Angels and an associate on Thursday.
At a media briefing featuring ranking officers from the RCMP and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. (CFSEU), it was announced the men were facing 41 charges, many related to guns and drugs.
Standing behind an array of seized rifles and drugs, CFSEU Deputy Operations Officer Supt. Duncan Pound said the move would put a “significant dent” in the men’s alleged criminal activities.
“This is going to impact all of the individuals we have named here and that are charged, and as you can see its a considerable amount of evidence here, and it ranges across from firearms, to illicit drugs, to proceeds of crime,” he said.
Seized evidence included 22 firearms, 13 kilograms of various drugs, large bundles of cash and explosives.
The investigation targeted the Hells Angels Nanaimo chapter, along with support outlaw motorcycle clubs Savages MC and Devils Army MC.
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The accused include full patch Nanaimo Hells Angels members William Paulson, 51, Kristopher Smith, 44 and Sean Kendall, 44, along with alleged associate William Thompson.
Paulson, Smith and Kendall remain at large and are the subject of arrest warrants, Pound said.
“For any of those three, please provide information to the police to help us locate them or we encourage all three of them to turn themselves in,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner Manny Mann, chief officer of the CFSEU, said the charges were the culmination of a “lengthy and complex” four-year investigation, involving dozens of officers.
“CFSEU BC will continue to lead these efforts and I am confident in the coming weeks and moths we will be able to share info about more arrests and charges against others,” he said.
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