Police raid Hells Angels clubhouse, search Saskatoon, Warman homes

Saskatoon police on scene at the Hells Angels clubhouse on Jan. 14, 2015.

Police raids were underway across Saskatoon Wednesday morning.

Heavily armed officers and Saskatoon police’s armoured Bearcat vehicle surrounded the Hells Angels clubhouse, at Avenue Q South and Dudley Street. Police raided homes on Evergreen’s Rajput Way and on Brown Crescent in the Adelaide Park Churchill neighbourhood. Officers even searched two homes in nearby Warman.

Numerous spots throughout the city as well as various locations in Saskatchewan and Alberta were searched, Saskatoon police said.

Police did not confirm many details on the raids, but said the searches, conducted alongside RCMP members, were part of an ongoing investigation.

Witnesses in Warman told CTV they first saw police in the area around 6 a.m.

“It was scary, very scary,” said one woman, who lives on Warman’s Lakeridge Drive where one house was raided.

She heard a loud bang — what she described as the sound of a door being kicked in.

The people living in the raided home just moved to the neighbourhood in December, the woman said. She was surprised to see police raid the house.

“My son, he’s talked to them. They had the big Santa up, and you’d just never know.”

Nicole Pelletier, a Warman resident on Guenther Crescent , where another police raid occurred, said she saw police take three people — two men and one woman — from a house. She also said the residents moved to the home in December.

“There were cops in between cars — it looked like army guys,” Pelletier said. “They were yelling at the people to come out with their hands up, come down the stairs, saying ‘This is the police.’ ”

Neighbours in Saskatoon’s Evergreen area said they saw officers raid one home. They told CTV they’ve noticed various people visiting the home and suspicious activity at the house in the past.

Police told media early Wednesday morning the public’s safety was not at risk.