B.C. Court of Appeal orders forfeiture of Hells Angels clubhouses in Nanaimo, Vancouver, Kelowna
CTV
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has directed the province to seize three Hells Angels clubhouses following a protracted civil forfeiture dispute over whether the properties were likely to be used to commit or plan future criminal activity.
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has directed the province to seize three Hells Angels clubhouses following a protracted civil forfeiture dispute over whether the properties were likely to be used to commit or plan future criminal activity.
The province's highest court on Wednesday overturned a 2020 B.C. Supreme Court ruling that allowed the biker gang to retain ownership of the properties in Nanaimo, East Vancouver and Kelowna.
The court battle began after Mounties raided the gang's Nanaimo, B.C., clubhouse in 2007 and the province's civil forfeiture office initiated proceedings to seize the property and its contents.
The seizure was later broadened to include the Hells Angels clubhouses in East Vancouver and Kelowna.
The Hells Angels filed a counterclaim and successfully challenged the constitutionality of B.C.'s Civil Forfeiture Act as it relates to future criminality.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies ordered the properties returned to the group in 2020.
The province launched an appeal of the decision last year, sending the matter to the appellate court, which, in its ruling Wednesday, overturned the trial judge's ruling and found the clubhouses "were likely to be used in a way that enhanced or facilitated the engagement by members of the relevant chapters in unlawful activity."
