Cops prepare for Hells Angels ride

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MCs in the News

Extra police officers will be on patrol in Nanaimo on Saturday when dozens of Hells Angels members are expected to gather in the city for the Zeke Run.

The 17th staging of the ride recognizes the spring anniversary of the disappearance of local club member Edward "Zeke" Mickle, who vanished in May 1993.

Last year, as many as 400 Hells Angels members from chapters across B.C. joined the ride.

Police say they will have extra officers on patrol and with Bar Watch, although Angels members are not allowed in nightclubs wearing biker colours. Several city hotels have also indicated to police that bikers have booked rooms for the event. Hells Angels members are expected to party in Nanaimo after the round-trip to Victoria on Saturday afternoon. Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien said police are not expecting any problems but "it would be prudent of us" to have extra manpower.

Fred Widdifield, a local, full-patch Hells Angels member, declined to comment.

In the past, the ride has left Nanaimo around noon from Victoria Road.

In 2008, the run was not held and Nanaimo RCMP suggested then that the seizure of the Nanaimo clubhouse may have led to its cancellation, but a Hells Angels member said the club was in Penticton on another ride.

The Nanaimo Hells Angels clubhouse on Victoria Road was seized in the fall of 2007. A Supreme Court of Canada decision last year upheld the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Act that allows police to seize property suspected to be proceeds of crime.

Nanaimo RCMP said the local Hells Angels have a new gathering place but declined to elaborate.

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