A police officer at the location of the Amager Hells Angels raid.
Photo: Scanpix Denmark
Police carried out a raid on a Hells Angels clubhouse in the Copenhagen district of Amager on Wednesday.
The clubhouse belongs to the Nomads division of the Hells Angels in the city, which is believed to be connected to cannabis dealing in Christiania, reports news agency Ritzau.
“I can confirm that we are at the address, but I cannot actually say more than this just now,” police commissioner Steffen Th. Steffensen told Ritzau on Wednesday morning.
Newspaper Politiken reported on Wednesday morning that its on-scene photographers witnessed a large presence of armed police wearing bulletproof vests at the Amager address. Police later confirmed that they had “amongst others” arrested “a full member of Hells Angels”.
A “large number of addresses” around the capital were involved in the raids and 15 people in total were arrested, said a police statement. The raid was aimed at hitting cannabis sales in the alternative Christiania enclave, according to the statement.
Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood of about 850 residents, known for its cannabis trade on the open-air Pusher Street market. The market was tolerated by authorities from the enclave’s inception in the 1970s until the mid-2000s, when a policy of clamping down on the trade was adopted.
Debate has long endured over whether sale of the drug should be made legal.
READ ALSO: Christiania residents shut down Pusher Street
“It is our assessment that we, after a targeted investigation in which we have traced money from the sale of cannabis in Pusher Street to a leading member of Hells Angels, have hit both sale and distribution in Pusher Street hard. It is with great satisfaction that we have has hit these cynical ringleaders with today’s raid. We pursue buyers, sellers and distributors, but it is clear that we are always happy to strike at the heart of the cannabis trade,” Chief Inspector Poul Kjeldsen said in the police statement.
Eight of the arrested men are expected to be charged with “working in a professional and hierarchical organisation which has sold several hundred kilos of cannabis over an extended period”, of which the full Hells Angel member was the head.
“This case shows once again that people with violence tendencies from the biker subculture are part of an organised and intimidating cannabis trade on Pusher Street in Christiania,” Steffensen said in the statement.
READ ALSO: Police bust Hells Angels 'joint factory' in Christiania
Denmark - LN.
“I can confirm that we are at the address, but I cannot actually say more than this just now,” police commissioner Steffen Th. Steffensen told Ritzau on Wednesday morning.
Newspaper Politiken reported on Wednesday morning that its on-scene photographers witnessed a large presence of armed police wearing bulletproof vests at the Amager address. Police later confirmed that they had “amongst others” arrested “a full member of Hells Angels”.
A “large number of addresses” around the capital were involved in the raids and 15 people in total were arrested, said a police statement. The raid was aimed at hitting cannabis sales in the alternative Christiania enclave, according to the statement.
Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood of about 850 residents, known for its cannabis trade on the open-air Pusher Street market. The market was tolerated by authorities from the enclave’s inception in the 1970s until the mid-2000s, when a policy of clamping down on the trade was adopted.
Debate has long endured over whether sale of the drug should be made legal.
READ ALSO: Christiania residents shut down Pusher Street
“It is our assessment that we, after a targeted investigation in which we have traced money from the sale of cannabis in Pusher Street to a leading member of Hells Angels, have hit both sale and distribution in Pusher Street hard. It is with great satisfaction that we have has hit these cynical ringleaders with today’s raid. We pursue buyers, sellers and distributors, but it is clear that we are always happy to strike at the heart of the cannabis trade,” Chief Inspector Poul Kjeldsen said in the police statement.
Eight of the arrested men are expected to be charged with “working in a professional and hierarchical organisation which has sold several hundred kilos of cannabis over an extended period”, of which the full Hells Angel member was the head.
“This case shows once again that people with violence tendencies from the biker subculture are part of an organised and intimidating cannabis trade on Pusher Street in Christiania,” Steffensen said in the statement.
READ ALSO: Police bust Hells Angels 'joint factory' in Christiania
Denmark - LN.
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