The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office has targeted Hells Angels clubhouses around Metro Vancouver, but Langley remains a stronghold for the gang.
On Wednesday, Dec. 3, the province announced it is going to court to seize the properties belonging to the outlaw motorcycle gang’s chapters in Mission, the Hardside chapter in Surrey, and the Haney chapter in Pitt Meadows.
The government alleges that the properties are the proceeds of crime, which has not yet been proven in court.
The new forfeiture case comes in the wake of a 2023 court decision that saw the gang’s Kelowna, Vancouver, and Nanaimo clubhouses seized following a years-long legal battle.
If successful in its new court actions, the government will leave the Hells Angels with few clubhouses remaining in the Lower Mainland, with the major exceptions of Langley and Coquitlam.
Langley has been home to both the White Rock and West Point chapters of the club in recent years.
The White Rock chapter was formed in 1983 as the Hells Angels began spreading across B.C. and consolidating its influence over smaller, independent biker gangs.
It moved to its current Langley site, at 21764 61 Ave., decades ago. A sizeable gate, fences, hedges, and security cameras guard the five-acre rural property near Milner.
Like most neighbouring properties, the site is zoned for rural uses, rather than the conventional P-1 institutional zoning that is used for most gathering places and clubhouses, like Royal Canadian Legion or Lions halls in Langley Township.
According to the Township, under ALR rules rural sites can hold up to 10 gatherings a year; Hells Angels clubs are widely reported to require weekly meetings of their members.
The City of Surrey has attempted to block the Hardside chapter from using a rented Surrey home as a clubhouse with a civil action that began in 2020, arguing they are violating local bylaws. That case has been moving slowly through the courts and is currently scheduled to go to trial in February 2027.
In 2023, the White Rock chapter clubhouse in Langley was the site of a huge gathering to celebrate the chapter’s 40th anniversary, with numerous police watching as the local bikers and guests from across Canada entered and left.
The West Point chapter is one of the newest full chapters in the province, formed in 2012 and reportedly an offshoot of the White Rock chapter.
It was originally planning to establish a clubhouse in Surrey, but according to media reports at the time, then RCMP Supt. Bill Fordy publicly announced that the Surrey RCMP would strongly resist their efforts to put down roots there.
After 2012, reports had the West Point chapter meeting in informal settings in Langley, including upstairs from a pub, and later in a rented home on an acreage in South Langley.
According to Cpl. Tom Saunders of the B.C. Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), an anti-gang unit, the West Point chapter were most recently located in a leased industrial unit at 5778 Production Way in Langley.
“Since we have begun civil proceedings on many of the Hells Angels MC [motorcycle club] clubhouses, many landlords have decided not to renew the lease to the Hells Angels MC and their clubs for fear of civil proceedings against them,” Saunders said. “This was the case with the Hells Angels MC West Point Chapter Clubhouse.”
They vacated that site in 2023.
Since being ousted from that location, they have used other sites for club meetings and events, and have not overtly advertised where they are gathering, said Saunders.
“We anticipate that other clubs will be taking a less overt approach to advertising their clubhouse locations moving forward,” he added.