BC’s Minister of Public Safety, and Solicitor General says the government is ramping up efforts to promote public safety and security by demolishing a clubhouse owned by the Hell’s Angels in Nanaimo.
The demolition of the clubhouse at 805 Victoria Street, which was seized by the BC’s forfeiture office in 2007, will end a 16-year-long legal saga between the province and the Hell’s Angels.
Mike Farnworth says the province is in possession of three properties in Nanaimo, Kelowna, and east Vancouver, used by the chapter to coordinate criminal activity.
Farnworth says he hopes this sends a clear message to the province on their commitment to public safety.
“Everyone deserves the right to feel safe in their communities, and the forfeiture of these properties is a significant step forward in putting organized crime on notice,” he says. “We will continue to undermine every effort that criminals make in BC to profit from their activities.
“Government will continue to protect British Columbians and take action against organized crime by seizing illegally obtained assets.”
Farnworth made the announcement to work alongside the province’s adoption of the Safer Communities Action Plan which was passed as added as a tool for the government to pursue gains generated from criminal activity.
“As part of our Safer Communities Action Plan,” he says. “We passed legislation to add Unexplained Wealth Orders as a powerful new tool and another way that government will pursue ill-gotten gains generated from criminal activity more efficiently.”
Farnworth says the efforts to remove all the clubhouses is a joint effort between the province, law enforcement and the Civil Forfeiture Office.
The three properties are estimated to be worth $3 million combined.
