NANAIMO — Following years of legal wrangling the Hells Angels clubhouse in south Nanaimo is officially under new ownership.
Members of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) were in Nanaimo on Friday, April 14 changing the locks and securing the Old Victoria Rd. property, which is now under management of the Civil Forfeiture Office of B.C.
Similar takeovers happened in Vancouver and Kelowna following a Feb. 15 appeals court decision allowing the province to regain control of the properties after a lengthy legal process.
“The Civil Forfeiture Office and its asset management agent attended all three properties on the morning of Friday, April 14, in order to inspect the properties and replace the locks,” a statement from the ministry of public safety read. “They were accompanied by law enforcement who were onsite to keep the peace, as needed.”
Several signs with Nanaimo Hells Angels branding were recently stripped from the property.
The province is now on title for the property which will be sold at a later date with proceeds going into the civil forfeiture account.
Neither the ministry nor the director of the Civil Forfeiture Office were able to comment further as the case itself involving the Hells Angels organization remains within a window of potential appeal.
The appeals court in February found the properties housed illegal activities and was the result of years of litigation between the organization and the province.
““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,” the court’s decision stated. “The Clubhouses therefore constituted “instruments of unlawful activity” in accordance with the future use definition and were subject to forfeiture…”
In the case of the Nanaimo chapter, assets generated through the clubhouse dating back to 2007 will be forfeited.
The Nanaimo Hells Angels clubhouse was out of the organization’s control between 2007 and 2020 when the building was seized under the forfeiture act.
The Nanaimo chapter formed in 1983.
The Old Victoria Rd. property had an underwhelming $282,500 valuation from BC Assessment,
Late last year the CFSEU announced weapons and drug trafficking charges against four men with ties to the Nanaimo Hells Angels chapter.
The CFSEU alleged the Hells Angels intended to expand drug trafficking operations and create additional chapters for the organization on Vancouver Island.
Unmarked police vehicles were stationed outside the Hells Angels clubhouse on Old Victoria Rd. on Friday, April 14. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.
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