Greg MacDonald, Times Staff|Dec 16, 2009 - 5:20 PM| 0
Man arrested in gang sweep
Ray Martin, Times Staff
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The owner of a Cambridge restaurant was arrested Tuesday during a sweep of Hell’s Angels operations in Southern Ontario.
Police arrested Andre Watteel, owner of the Barking Fish and former president of the Angels’ Kitchener chapter. A raid was conducted on a Royal Oak Road home, as well as the restaurant on Beech Avenue.
Watteel was charged with numerous drug offences, according to Waterloo police.
The 56-year-old’s restaurant and a home on Royal Oak Road were just two targets in a three-community sweep, which included concurrent raids in Hamilton and Nanticoke.
The raids occurred mid-morning. Officers were pulling out furniture and other belongings from the Royal Oak Road house Tuesday and also occupied the Barking Fish for much of the day.
Overall, the raid brought in $215,000 worth of drugs along with $875,000 worth of property.
Watteel had previously been arrested on fraud charges in 2006 as part of another Hell's Angels’ raid.
Tuesday’s sweep came after a year-long investigation, said Supt. Gary Askin of the Waterloo Regional Police.
Along with Watteel, seven others were arrested, most from the Hamilton area.
The results served to highlight the dangers of organized crime in the community, he said.
“It illustrated how invaluable (groups such as the Hell’s Angels) are in the drug trade,” Askin said.
“Drug raids and arrests are only one part of the solution. We also need to educate people on what organized crime is all about.
“The public has to be our eyes and ears.”
Watteel has been a member of the Cambridge community for years. His Hell's Angels associations have been known, but Mayor Doug Craig said the city was not worried about them during a 2004 Globe and Mail interview.
Craig also noted the charitable contributions of the gang.
At the time, he was reflecting the information he had heard from the police department, the mayor said yesterday. He said he was not aware that motorcycle gangs were a big issue in Cambridge.
Craig is on a committee that meets with the police every six weeks.
“Most of those discussions have been around street gangs,” he said. “Over the last three or four years motorcycle gangs have not come up.”
That doesn’t mean the presence of the Hell’s Angel is not a problem, Craig said.
“The fact is Cambridge doesn’t have representation on the police board,” he said, adding that all the information isn’t always available to elected officials not on the board.
He hopes to be brought up to speed by the police soon.
The Barking Fish restaurant has been re-opened to the public and has resumed normal operations. Management declined to comment further.
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