Dream Warrior Recovery: Individual selfhood is expressed in the self's capacity for self-transcendence

Individual selfhood is expressed in the self's capacity for self-transcendence and not in its rational capacity for conceptual and analytic procedures." Reinhold Neibuhr - Theologian/Author of the "Serenity Prayer"

MEMBERS of a small-town motorcycle club linked to the Hells Angels have failed in their appeal to retrieve their confiscated guns. A decision was handed down today by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal upholding a decision to cancel four Tramps bikies’ gun licences because of their membership and social associations with other gangs. The verdict comes almost a year after nine current and former members of the Tramps MC fronted the Firearms Appeal Committee, one of which is a mobile butcher, arguing that Victoria Police had no right cancel their licences. Club head Ronald Harding, who took leave to withdraw, butcher Michael Oxenham, Malcolm Dinsdale and David Windsor are now considering appealing the decision to the appeal court of the Victorian Supreme Court. In August 2012, Chief Commissioner Ken Lay made a controversial decision to seize more than 100 registered guns from members of “outlaw’’ bikie gangs across the state. The VCAT appeal, taken on by four Tramps members, was seen as a test case for other “outlaw’ bikie members who also had their gun licences cancelled. The guns were seized under the test to whether the licence holder was a “fit and proper’’ person.

 Trial is beginning in state court in Las Vegas for eight men facing felony and misdemeanor charges in a December 2008 wedding chapel brawl between Hells Angels and rival Mongols motorcycle club members. Court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price says opening statements were scheduled for Monday. A jury was picked Friday for the trial that's expected to last four weeks. Authorities say the wedding chapel melee broke out as Hells Angels leaving a wedding encountered Mongols members arriving for another wedding. Two people were stabbed and four others also suffered injuries. The eight defendants are among 13 people indicted in July 2010 on charges including attempted murder, battery, assault, conspiracy and criminal gang activity. Each has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorneys say the accused Hells Angels were acting in self-defense.

(The Journal Gazette, Swikar Patel/ Associated Press ) - The Outlaws Motor Club Sign is removed from the building Wednesday, July 11, 2012 after a raid on the club by FBI Task Force at the 1200 block of West Main Street. More than 300 federal and local law enforcement officers raided Indianapolis and Fort Wayne sites that are tied to the Outlaws motorcycle gang and rounded up members to face charges that remained sealed.

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• Dozens of people connected to the Outlaws motorcycle gang were arrested during early-morning raids Wednesday that federal prosecutors said were aimed at dismantling a criminal organization where violence was part of doing business.

A federal judge sentenced a former Petaluma man to 37 months in prison this week for securing a phony mortgage loan that let him buy a home on Muscat Circle in Petaluma, U.S. Attorney's officials said. Justin Batemon, 34, pleaded guilty Jan. 31 and was sentenced Wednesday to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said. Batemon also will have to pay restitution, although an amount was unspecified. Batemon was a client of San Francisco loan officer Jacob Moynihan who federal prosecutors said masterminded a scheme that involved $15 million in fraudulent mortgage loans. Moynihan helped Batemon, a Petaluma High grad, and five others, including members of the Sonoma County Hells Angels motorcycle club, buy or refinance homes in Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg, officials said. Moynihan recruited straw buyers to obtain the loans in exchange for cash, according to a 25-count federal indictment filed in 2011. Batemon got involved in 2006 when Moynihan hired him to do remodeling work at several properties, said his attorney, Robert Waggener. Batemon and his fiance had a newborn girl and were looking to get out of a rat-infested double-wide trailer. Waggener said Batemon had a limited role in the overall scheme. “He wasn't involved in Hells Angels, he was not involved in other loans and he was not involved with the others who bought properties to cultivate marijuana,” Waggener said. But the prosecution said Batemon lied on documents to qualify for a loan.

“I’m mad as hell. I have nothing to answer for,” Frank Hanebuth, head of Hannover Hells Angels told the Bild newspaper on Sunday. He said it would cost up to €30,000 to repair the gate and terrace – and complained that the police special forces had shot dead his dog in the raid. The 47-year-old, who other newspapers said has good political and social connections in the area, was tolerated for years as he coordinated “security” in Hannover’s red light district. His lawyer testified for his character at the weekend. “My wife and I get on well with him,” Götz von Fromberg told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper (FAZ) on Sunday. “From my point of view he is intelligent and can behave himself very well.” But the fact that Fromberg views Hanebuth as more than a client illustrates what the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper described on Monday as the “Hannover Connection” – a network of prominent and influential politicians and businessmen. Fromberg told the FAZ that to avoid the allegation of proximity between Hells Angels and politicians, he chose not to invite Hanebuth to his birthday parties while his close friend Gerhard Schröder was German chancellor. He said Hanebuth had nothing to do with the Hells Angels in Kiel – where police have for days been searching the foundations of a warehouse, convinced that a body is buried in the concrete there. Reports surfaced over the weekend that the hunt for the remains of Tekin Bicer, who has been missing for two years, had produced results. This was denied on Monday by the state prosecutor who said the team did not expect anything until Tuesday. The warehouse was one of nearly 90 locations which were searched in a huge operation last week – including a workshop which the Kieler Nachrichten newspaper said doubled as a torture cell. The paper said that Bicer, who has been missing since spring 2010, was involved in the Hells Angel’s drug dealing business and obviously got into their bad books. He had been tortured for several hours and then shot dead, the paper said. Police would only confirm they were searching the workshop. The search for his remains continued on Tuesday, with large chunks of concrete removed from the warehouse to enable detectives to reach the area where he is thought to have been buried.

THE man believed by police to be the central figure in a bikie feud has declared he is not at fault for Sydney's spate of drive-by shootings and says they are the "act of a coward". Wissam Amer, 28, broke his silence to The Sunday Telegraph to say he was not at the heart of the current shootings between the Hells Angels and Nomads outlaw motorcycle gangs. Last week The Sunday Telegraph revealed police believe Amer was the source of the conflict after he defected from the Hells Angels to the rival Nomads. Speaking through his lawyer Maggie Sten, the former bikie said unequivocally that he was no longer part of any gang and disputed police claims he's responsible for the feud. "The conflict between the Hells Angels and the Nomads is dead and buried - it has been for a while," Mr Amer said through his lawyer. "It has got nothing to do with me." Mr Amer was previously a member of the Bandidos, but left the group during a large scale "patch-over" of its members to the Hells Angels more than a year ago. Police believe he then tried to leave the Hells Angels to join the Nomads and burned bridges along the way - however he disputes this. Ms Sten said Mr Amer now wants to clear the record and confirm he is not part of any gang and is attempting to get on with a "normal life". What is not in dispute, however, is that Mr Amer was the target of two drive-by shootings over the past seven months. One was a drive-by at a Merrylands Oporto, two days after he was released on bail; the other happened three days later at his previous address at Canley Vale. Police believe both attacks were committed by Hells Angels, however Mr Amer said he could not prove this and neither could police. Mr Amer is unsure who the perpetrators were. "It could have been anybody - it's a dirty game, it could have been someone that I'd had a run-in with years ago," Ms Sten said on Mr Amer's behalf. "I live my life with no fear - I live now as a normal person." What Mr Amer was sure about was that drive-by shootings on himself or anyone else was a despicable act. "It's as weak as scratching somebody's car - anybody who drives a car and attacks you at 1am is a coward," he said through Ms Sten. "Especially when you know the people you're looking for are not there," referring to cases where the alleged targets were in jail. He could not explain the forces behind the current wave of shootings, but agreed with a police theory - revealed by The Sunday Telegraph - that a third party is trying to reignite animosities between the groups. Authorities brokered a peace agreement between the two gangs in January, but that faltered on April 16 when shots were fired at a home and car in Pemulwuy. "We believe it's other people trying to stir the pot," Ms Sten said for Mr Amer. "This is the perfect time for people to attack because they know the Hells Angels and Nomads were in a previous conflict which no longer exists." Police Strike Force Kinnarra has locked up 13 people in relation to the nine shootings that happened last month. Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis said the conflict was firmly between the two gangs.

 Bikie boss Felix Lyle, head of the gang's Sydney chapter, and four other members fronted a Parramatta court on Wednesday where they were expected to stand trial for extortion and intimidation. It was alleged the four had fronted a car dealer and demanded a free sports scar. According to the Daily Telegraph, one of the men, Mosta Jouayde, had renounced his involvement with the Hells Angels during a bail hearing last year. The prosecution dropped the case and the five were released Wednesday afternoon. It could be some time before fellow bikie Scott Orrock can celebrate with his now free peers. The 47-year-old is accused of torching a police car which was parked out the front of his tattoo parlour an attempt to prevent a potential drive-by shooting last month. In the hours leading up to the fire Orrock allegedly phoned the Newton police station and said if the car wasn't moved he would "burn it down". He was given bail in the Magistrates Court but on Tuesday a Supreme Court judge upheld the DPP's appeal and put the bikie back behind bars.

NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher has warned bikie gangs against attempting to defy a ban on wearing their club colours to Kings Cross nightspots. The ban, which came into force on Friday, applies to 58 clubs, pubs and restaurants in Sydney's nightclub and red light district. Attorney-General Greg Smith has conceded the measures will be hard to enforce but Mr Gallacher says it would be sheer stupidity for the bikies to challenge them. Advertisement: Story continues below "If the bikies decide to go down the path of trying to stand over police, that is going to be again a very, very foolish decision," he told reporters in Sydney's west on Saturday. "Talking to police as I do, they've had a gutful of these people somehow believing that they are above the law. "What we are doing now is giving police a suite of measures that quite simply bikies would not be used to and it will give the ability for police not to take any garbage as they move around, whether it be Kings Cross or other parts of the state." As for the rash of shootings in Sydney's west, Mr Gallacher declined to say if giving police extra powers would reduce gun crime. There have been almost 60 shooting incidents in Sydney so far this year. "You cannot promise anything in terms of giving people (the assurance) that gun crime will come down because quite simply it is a spurious question," Mr Gallacher said. The minister said it was too early to decide whether to enforce the ban on bikie club colours in areas beyond Kings Cross.

TWENTY extra detectives will hit the streets of the Gold Coast and Brisbane as the Newman Government attempts to crack down on bikie gang crime in the wake of yesterday's double shooting at Robina Town Centre. Police Minister Jack Dempsey this morning also committed an extra $750,000 to boost crime operations. Illegal hand gun laws are also likely to be strengthened, with minimum mandatory sentences introduced, and new unexplained criminal proceeds legislation will be developed. In the meantime, the LNP Government will use Labor's anti-bikie laws - despite repeatedly criticising the measures while in opposition. The laws, which allow police to declare some groups illegal and step up its response, have never been used despite being introduced more than two years ago. "That is just here and now as a stop-gap until we get the chance to go to Parliament and really do some good there," Premier Campbell Newman said. "Two and a half years they haven't been used, we're going to give it a go now. We hope they stick and if they do, well so be it, we'll come in here and say they were better than we thought. "We will use every single possible mechanism to deal with the activities of these criminals (but) we don't have confidence because these laws have been challenged interstate and they could be subject to challenge (in Queensland)." Mr Newman said Labor had been soft on crime but the LNP "will not allow these things to happen". "Our streets and our shopping centres are not going to be battlegrounds where people play out these sort of crazy criminal fantasies because perhaps they've been watching too many movies or something," he said. "It's just not on, it will not be tolerated." But Mr Newman again backed away from a ban on bikies wearing their colours or jackets in public. "This is Australia. We don't put people in jail for wearing leather jackets, having tattoos or a particular hairstyle," he said. "But if we have now a situation where the Police Commissioner can say this particular group have been involved in the activities that we've seen particularly in the last 10 days, then the Government will look at using the laws that we've inherited from Labor even though we are concerned about them." Mr Dempsey said the new measures would "send a clear message that those types of illegal activities are not condoned in public places". "If they commit these illegal crimes they will go to jail," he said. Ten extra detectives will be added to the Gold Coast's 20-strong Serious and Violent Crime Squad, which will be renamed the Major and Organised Crime Squad. Another 10 detectives will be added to the state's anti-bikie Taskforce Hydra, bringing its numbers to 43.

SIMMERING tension between rival bikie gangs exploded on the Gold Coast yesterday with the drive-by shooting of a tattoo parlour in the heart of Bandidos territory. Police fear the attack could be a push for territory by the Hells Angels as the outlaw gang seeks a toehold on the lucrative Glitter Strip. Less than 24 hours after police commissioner Bob Atkinson told the Bulletin that bikie gangs were "one of the greatest challenges to face law enforcement", the Bandido-protected Mermaid Beach tattoo shop was hit by at least four shots in the early hours of yesterday morning.  High-ranking police yesterday said it was "inevitable" that the violence that has plagued Sydney would eventually spill across the border. "We do not believe it is directly connected to the war between the Hells Angels and the Nomads that has been unfolding in New South Wales," said police. "But it is a similar style of attack. "We know the Hells Angels have been pushing to establish a chapter on the Gold Coast -- that push is coming from Sydney. "Tradelink Drive is not their most profitable chapter." While detectives have attempted to play down the shooting, police say there is "no doubt" it was intended as a warning. The Bandidos are the largest and one of the most secretive bikie gangs on the Gold Coast. The club has gained strength as its main rival -- the Finks -- have been severely weakened with so many senior members behind bars and Bandido territory stretches south from Broadbeach. Police said last month's Hells Angels National Run was intended as a direct message to all gangs on the Gold Coast. More than 200 patched gang members descended on Surfers Paradise for the run. "These clubs are so well organised, they do nothing without a reason," police said. "You can bet they had some purpose in coming to the Gold Coast. "They taunted the Finks and nothing happened, now the Bandidos tattoo shop is shot up in the same way the gym controlled by the Hells Angels was hit a few months ago. "You join the dots." The shop is owned by a senior member of the outlaw gang who has been a patched member of the Bandidos "for years", police say. In an exclusive interview with the Bulletin, Mr Atkinson said the danger of bikie gangs was "under-rated" by the community. "The outlaw motorcycle gangs nationally present one of the greatest challenges to police. "I think the degree of that challenge and the risk they present to our society is underrated." The Gold Coast has one of the highest populations of bikie gangs in the country. Mr Atkinson said he would not be surprised if the Hells Angels were not considering a move closer to the Glitter Strip. "They are businesses, they look for opportunity so that wouldn't be a surprise," he said. "They market themselves as a group of mature men who have a love and interest in motorbikes and they do that very cleverly. The reality is they are highly sophisticated, well organised criminal enterprises that pose a genuine risk to the community and many are well represented by the finest and best lawyers who they retain to represent them." South East Region Assistant Commissioner Graham Rynders said the gangs were constantly looking to expand. "One of things about OMCGs is they look for opportunity for criminal enterprise," Mr Rynders said. "Throughout Queensland, throughout the country, probably throughout the world they are looking to expand. It is obviously dictated to by territory, depending on who or what other groups exist in what areas."

Police discovered a grisly scene on Sept. 10, 2000, when they entered a Cogmagun Road home in Hants County. “It was a very brutal scene,” Cpl. Shawn Sweeney, who was a constable with the Windsor rural RCMP detachment that day, testified Tuesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Kentville. It was the second day of trial for Leslie Douglas Greenwood, 42, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Barry Kirk Mersereau, 48, and his wife, Nancy Paula Christensen, 47. Sweeney, a Crown witness, testified that he and four other police officers who responded to a 911 call found Christensen sitting upright in a chair in the living room of her Centre Burlington home with a bullet wound in her left cheek, under her glasses. She had a cup of tea in her hand and a small dog was sitting in her lap. There were several bullet casings and lead fragments scattered on the floor. Mersereau was lying face down, with pools of blood around his head and body. Another dog, believed to be a German shepherd-Rottweiler mix, was hiding under covers on the bed in the master bedroom. A third dog was tied to the front porch and another had run off into the woods. Sweeney told Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy and the seven-woman, five-man jury hearing the case that the house appeared to be neat and orderly, with no signs of struggle. “It didn’t appear to be a house that was rifled through or things thrown around,” Sweeney testified. Const. Glenn Bonvie told the court it was immediately obvious that Mersereau and Christensen were dead. “There was no movement. There was no doubt that they were deceased.” Crown witness Ronald Connors owned a hunting cabin in the woods about half a kilometre away from the couple’s house. He testifed that he heard several shots at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 9. Connors said he heard six shots fired in quick succession, followed by a pause and a couple more shots. Moments later, there were more shots. He said he thought at first someone might be jacking deer, but Connors concluded that the shots didn’t sound like those from a high-powered hunting rifle. The jury was shown a video of the two bodies as they were found. Former RCMP officer David Clace, then in charge of the RCMP’s forensics identification unit in New Minas, said a large amount of money was found in plastic bags in a gym bag in one of the bedroom closets. The bag was later determined to contain about $65,000 in cash. Crown attorney Peter Craig has told the court that the victims were shot to death in their home in an execution-style killing as part of a Hells Angels-ordered killing. “They were killed in their home in a quiet community, with a teapot on the stove, with no signs of struggle and their baby in the next room,” Craig told the jury. He said evidence presented by as many as 40 Crown witnesses will show that Michael Lawrence and Greenwood murdered the couple on the orders of Jeffrey Lynds, a former Hells Angels operative who died recently in a Montreal jail of an apparent suicide. Lawrence, who owed Lynds money, pleaded guilty last January to three charges of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. Also killed that day, by Lawrence, was Charles Maddison, an innocent man who picked Lawrence up hitchhiking. Lawrence shot him to take his truck to commit a planned robbery. Craig said Lawrence, expected to be a crucial Crown witness, will testify that he and Greenwood shot the couple, one with a .357 Magnum, the other with a 32-calibre handgun, in what he called “planned and deliberate” killings. The couple’s 18-month-old baby boy was safely recovered from the house by neighbour Ruby McKenzie, who went to the victim’s home the day after the shootings. McKenzie said she brought the baby back to her mobile home and called police. Greenwood sat quietly during the proceedings, occasionally exchanging comments with his lawyer, Alain Begin. Begin is expected to argue that Greenwood went to the Mersereau house the day of the shootings to buy drugs, and that Lawrence shot the couple while Greenwood was waiting outside. Also charged with first-degree murder in the killings is Curtis Blair Lynds, 36, who is serving time in a federal prison for drug trafficking. A preliminary inquiry in his case is scheduled to begin July 16.

A DISPUTE within the Hells Angels bikie gang is thought to be behind the shooting of a gang member as he was driving in suburban Adelaide. The 29-year-old man was shot twice in the chest and arm around midnight in a targeted attack in the city's northwestern suburbs. He managed to drive his ute to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he arrived at 12.20am CDT today. He remains in a serious condition. Crime gangs task force boss John De Candia said the man had provided police with some information, and detectives believed the attack stemmed from a dispute between fellow gang members. "What I can say is this is not a random incident," Superintendent De Candia said today. "We do not believe this is linked to any other past feud between any other motorcycle gangs. "We believe, at this stage, it is a dispute between the Hells Angels themselves." Supt De Candia said it appeared the attack came from behind while the man was in the vehicle. A bullet hole was also found in the back of his ute. He said some "items of interest" had been found at the scene but declined to give details. The victim has given detectives some details about his movements, but police are yet to determine if he knows who fired the shots and whether he is willing to co-operate. In previous incidents involving bikies in Adelaide, including a spate of shootings over the past year, police have been frustrated by the code of silence operating among bikie gangs, with members usually refusing to help detectives. A number of prosecutions have stalled in the courts for the same reason. "The code of silence that bikie gangs do adopt is difficult and it makes our job harder, but we still continue to progress the investigation," Supt De Candia said. He said the latest attack was also in keeping with the activities of bikie gangs and should act as a warning to anyone who was considering becoming a member or an associate. "This is the behaviour that they engage in. They have a total disregard for the law, they have a total disregard for the safety of innocent people," he said. "This isn't something you want to get involved in. "Just as certain as taxes and death are in life, then it's certain that people who are involved with motorcycle gangs are going to be risking their life."

A suspected Hells Angels Motorcycle Club member wanted in connection with a Manteca homicide has been arrested in Oakdale, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office said Monday. Investigators sought Brandon James Gann, 30, in connection with the Aug. 15 shooting outside a business in the 17000 block of Ideal Parkway, off Highway 120 east of Manteca. Danny Martinez, 26, of Lathrop was killed in the shooting and another man was injured. The shooting was an apparent act of retaliation, San Joaquin County investigators have said. Gann at the time was a known associate of the Hells Angels Nomads, while Martinez and the other victim were full patch members of the Most Envied Motorcycle Club. The Oakdale Police Department arrested Gann in Oakdale on April 10 without incident. He was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on the charge of possessing a loaded firearm in public. Bail is set at $150,500.

Joerg Grossmann's prototype sidecar hearse was fitted to a Kawasaki VN 1500

A German motorcyclist aims to help fellow enthusiasts arrive at their final resting place in style - in a sidecar hearse fitted to a Harley.

Joerg Grossmann, from near Frankfurt, says he developed the hearse for die-hard bikers who want to ride right to the end.

His prototype recently attended its first funeral fitted to a Kawasaki.

He says 10 Harley hearses, each costing about 60,000 euros (£50,000), will be ready later this year.

Mr Grossmann, 48, estimates he could attract about 1,000 bookings each year in Germany alone.

Hiring the Harley hearse costs 1,200 euros a time compared with about 200 euros for a normal hearse.

He says he already has plans to expand his services into Switzerland and elsewhere.

Mr Grossmann said many motorcyclists were excited about the idea.

"It's something special," he said.

AUSTRALIAN bikie gangs are expanding aggressively overseas, opening clubhouses and absorbing smaller clubs in other countries in a reversal of a decades-long trend. At least one outlaw motorcycle gang has established an affiliate in Thailand, with others looking to expand into that and other south-east Asian countries such as Indonesia, according to Victoria Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer. ''There is certainly one of our mainstream larger clubs that has an established clubhouse in Thailand,'' he told The Age, while declining to name the club. Advertisement: Story continues below ''They won't hold membership themselves there, but through sponsorship they have locals set it up. It would be, I'd suggest, dangerous for them to be over there running a club, considering the trade that they peddle in. They'll get the death penalty. They would say they go over to have holidays and socialise and buy Bali Bagus T-shirts.'' While Mr Fryer also declined to name the clubs that are planning to expand, it is believed Australia's biggest club, the Rebels, is eyeing off Thailand for an Asian bridgehead. While Australia has traditionally been seen as a target for expansion, local bikies are spreading their tentacles internationally to obtain amphetamines and the precursor chemicals needed to make them, which are easier to obtain in south-east Asia. Mr Fryer said the sergeant-at-arms, or enforcer, of one Victorian-based club was even referring to himself as the club's ''south-east Asian sergeant-at-arms''. He said bikies from a Melbourne-based club had also travelled to Spain to ''patch over'', or absorb, a smaller club, transforming the Spanish club into a ''one-percenter'', a title that refers to the belief that they are part of the 1 per cent that is outside mainstream society. It is also believed that Australian bikies have travelled to the United Arab Emirates to launder money. The expansion was one of the topics addressed at a Victorian conference this week at which state and federal law-enforcement agencies discussed organised crime trends. Over the past 18 months, bodies such as state police, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Crime Commission and Customs have forcefully advocated the need for greater co-operation in law enforcement to keep pace with the evolution of organised crime groups such as bikies. Mr Fryer said there were now 24 outlaw motorcycle gangs in Victoria, comprising 56 chapters and more than 1000 members. There also was concern over the growth in bikies owning gyms, which he said were being used to traffic drugs.

Michel Smith, a Quebec member of the Hells Angels wanted se 2009 in connection to 22 murder cases, has been arrested by authorities in Panama, according to media reports. However, officials from the Surete du Quebec and RCMP were not immediately able to confirm or deny the reports. According to the RCMP, Smith is a member of the South Chapter of the Hells Angels and goes by the nickname "L'animal." He has been on the run since 2009 in connection with a police crackdown on the Hells Angels biker gang. He faces 29 criminal charges - including 22 murder charges. Citing Panamanian local media and Agence France-Presse, the QMI news agency reported that Smith, 49, had been detained by police Friday evening in the Playa Coronado region, on the Pacific Ocean coast of the Central American nation. A Canada-wide warrant issued by the RCMP said he was being sought for murder, gangsterism, drug trafficking and related conspiracy charges. His Central American connections were known to authorities. "Smith is likely to visit Panama and speaks French," the warrant stated. Const. Erique Gasse of the RCMP's C Division in Montreal said he had relayed a request for official word on Smith's status to RCMP officials in Ottawa, who did not immediately return a phone call. Asked for confirmation of the arrest report, Surete du Quebec spokesperson Sgt. Christine Coulombe said: "I have no information on this." Smith is "considered to be violent," according to the warrant. Aside from "L'animal," his aliases have included Mike Smith-Lajoie, Michel Lajoie-Smit and Michel Lajoie. The warrant describes Smith as 172 centimetres tall and weighing 95 kilograms, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Quebec fugitive -- and alleged member of the Hells Angels -- who is wanted on murder charges has been arrested in Panama, local media reports say. Michel Smith, 49, who was linked to Quebec's deadly biker war in the 1990s, was reportedly arrested Friday. Smith -- whose nickname is "animal" -- has been on the run since 2009. He was taken into custody by local police in the tourist area of Playa Coronado on the Pacific Ocean coast, according to local reports. The reports said he had been under surveillance for about two months before his arrest. Smith faces 29 charges, including 22 counts of murder. Police in Canada had not confirmed the news as late Sunday night. Smith is to be extradited back to Canada, police officials in Panama said in a news release. Smith has long been alleged to be among the top men affiliated with the Hells Angels when it was at war with the Rock Machine biker gang in the 1990s and early 2000s. The gang war killed more than 150 people. While most of the victims were members of the rival gangs and their affiliates, two prison guards and an 11-year old boy -- a bystander -- also died. An RCMP warrant describes Smith as 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 210 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.