The owners of two Hells Angels clubhouses that the B.C. government wants to take over deny the biker gang is a criminal organization.

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And the companies that own the Haney and Mission City chapter buildings linked to the notorious motorcycle club claim their Charter rights are being violated by the B.C. director of civil forfeiture and the police.

No crime or criminals here, say B.C. Hells Angels fighting court forfeiture of clubhouses Back to video

Both Haney Farms Ltd. and 0593308 B.C. Ltd. recently filed almost identical statements of defence to a lawsuit launched by the government agency in December.

The director alleges that the Haney and Mission clubhouses, as well as a Surrey one that had been rented by the Hardside chapter, have been financed and maintained using criminal proceeds.

The B.C. government also said that the Hells Angels is a criminal organization in Canada, as defined by the Criminal Code, and “is affiliated with other criminal organizations and individuals engaged in unlawful activities which have similar purposes to its own.”

“Some of these criminal organizations or individuals contribute to, or participate in, the commission of serious offences for the benefit of and/or at the direction of members of the Hells Angels,” the December lawsuit alleged.

But the new court filings said the government is improperly relying “on global allegations” against the Hells Angels.

“The defendant denies that the Hells Angels is a criminal organization or affiliated with other criminal organizations and individuals engaged in criminal activities, and further denies that it has a reputation for violence, that it relies on this reputation for the purposes of intimidation and other unlawful activities, or that its global presence, membership, recruitment process, structure and rules facilitate its members to engage in any unlawful activity as alleged or at all.”

The Haney clubhouse, at 13733 McKechnie Rd., sits on 1.9 hectares in Pitt Meadows and is owned by Haney Farms, which has two full-patch Hells Angels as directors. The property, designated farmland, is assessed at $893,624.

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Mission City’s clubhouse, at 7071 Mershon Rd., is owned by 0593308 B.C., which has three Hells Angels as directors. It’s assessed at $1,086,000.

But both statements of defence deny that the corporate owners are holding the properties for the benefit of the Hells Angels.

They also deny a government claim that current and past members of each chapter have convictions for various criminal offences, including drug trafficking, drug smuggling, conspiracy, and firearms possession.

Yet Mission Hells Angel Jason Arkinstall was granted day parole in February after convictions for smuggling large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine into Canada in 2020. The Parole Board of Canada noted his continued Hells Angels membership in its ruling.

And Haney Hells Angel Damion Ryan, who is also part of the Wolfpack gang alliance, was convicted in Winnipeg in December of conspiracy to traffic in meth, cocaine and fentanyl, as well as conspiracy to profit from the proceeds of crime as a member of an organized crime group. He has yet to be sentenced.

The two new statements of defence were filed two months after the owner of the Surrey property that had been used by the Hardside chapter filed their defence.

Gurbinder Singh Johal and his wife Kulwant, who own the house at 18068-96th Ave. in Surrey, said they had “no knowledge of the alleged unlawful activities referred to in the notice of civil claim and are not, and have not, been connected to any such unlawful activities.”

They also said they evicted their tenant, Hells Angel Gurpreet Dhaliwal.

The latest government lawsuit targeting the Hells Angels was filed 2 1/2 years after a court victory that led to the forfeiture of Hells Angels clubhouses in Nanaimo, east Vancouver and Kelowna. Many of the allegations in the current case mirror those in the earlier lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2007.

After initially losing that case in B.C. Supreme Court, the director won in the B.C. Court of Appeal.

While the bikers sought to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, in 2023, the country’s highest court declined to hear the case, clearing the way for the forfeiture of the clubhouses.

All three have now been sold or demolished.

kbolan@postmedia.com