By News Talk Radio Staff

Saskatchewan Drug Takedown: Club president, Hells Angels among arrests in massive drug raid

Jan 16, 2015 | 4:08 PM

Two full members of the Saskatoon Hells Angels and the president of the Fallen Saints (FS) motorcycle club are among the 14 men arrested by police Wednesday morning in one of the province’s largest drug raids. 

Hells Angels members Terry Eide and Rob Allen and FS president Mark Nowakowski were taken into custody after RCMP, in conjunction with local police forces, raided 19 locations in Saskatchewan and Alberta.

RCMP said $8 million worth of drugs were seized as a result of an investigation that started in 2013, dubbed ‘Project Forseti.’ 

In Saskatoon, nine homes and two businesses were targeted. Officers also went to a home in Star City, Sask. and businesses in Melfort and Nipawin, Sask.  as well as two homes in Warman, Sask.

In Alberta, police raided two homes in Red Deer and searched a vehicle in Calgary.

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Both Eide and Allen face charges of drug trafficking while Nowakowski faces charges of aggravated assault.

According to the release, the investigation ramped up on Jan. 6 after police in Burnaby, B.C. seized two pill presses, commonly associated with manufacturing ecstasy as well as fentanyl, a drug used to make fake OxyContin tablets that have been linked to at least three deaths in Saskatoon.

Police report that they became aware of the presses in B.C. following two of the deaths in Saskatoon in September 2014.  3,358 fentanyl tablets seized as a result of the raids are reported to have the same chemical make-up as the pills linked to the deaths.

Detective Inspector Jerome Engele said Saskatoon is a lucrative city for drug dealers and other criminals because the public is not very cautious.

“(The public are) using illegal drugs, they’re using cocaine and these aren’t little street people making mistakes. These are some of our so called better business men. They are aiding this crime by buying the product,” Engele said. “By the way, we’re watching. They’ll all end up in jail one day.”

Names of people charged 

Police listed 14 people who have been charged so far in connection to Project Forseti.  Thirteen of them appeared in Saskatoon Provincial Court Thursday morning. One is due to appear at a date to be determined. 

They face charges ranging from drug trafficking and weapons charges to assault and possessing proceeds of crime.  Several are either members of, or affiliated with, the Fallen Saints motorcycle club, which police describe as a puppet club of the Hells Angels that formed last summer. 

Engele said some of the assault charges stem from an incident in Prince Albert.

“In an amount of 30 to 50 members just showed up in P.A. as a result of an assault in a bar in P.A. They showed up to show their force and that they are going to own these places. They don’t. We, the public, own the places, and we the police will enforce the laws,” he said.

Engele said their investigation continues and there will be more arrests and charges.

The 14 people charged are:

John Fekete, 30, of Saskatoon

Carl Trobak, 28, of Saskatoon

Justin Smith, 33, of Saskatoon

Daryl Nagy, 25, of Saskatoon

Bradley Carl Mann, 37, of Martensville

Rob Allen, 35, of Saskatoon

Mark Michael Nowakowski, 44, of Saskatoon

Christopher Keith Lester, 33, of Saskatoon 

Armand Hounjet, 43, of Melfort

Layne Joseph James Boorman, 24, of Saskatoon

Ryan Hillman, 27, of Saskatoon

Travis Matthew Miles, 25, of Saskatoon

Thai Duong Tran, 26, of Vancouver

Terry Eide, 31, of Calgary

List of locations searched in Saskatoon:

900 block Glacier Shores Manor

100 block Rajput Way

2500 block 37th Street West

100 block Silverwood Road

1100 block Avenue Q South

1900 block 11th Street West

100 block 110th Street East

300 block Cockburn Crescent

100 block Brown Crescent

400 block Dickey Crescent

news@panow.com 

On Twitter: @princealbertnow