A London woman linked to a former Hells Angels president in London, Ontario, faces guns and gambling charges after police raided her Commissioners Road home, apparently as part of a co-ordinated crackdown on the outlaw motorcycle club.
The OPP searched a home at 203 Commissioners Rd. E. last Thursday.
Habiba Kajan, 43, is charged with 10 offences, including unauthorized possession of a firearm, tampering with a serial number and instructing commission of an offence for a criminal organization, court records show.
The weapons charges stem from alleged offences on Thursday, while the gambling charges, including engaging in book-making or betting operations, are related to allegations dating back to October 2013, court records say.
Neighbours reported seeing a large police presence descend on the house, located west of Ridout Street, around 5 a.m. Firefighters and paramedics were also on the scene.
The pre-dawn raid came one day before police arrested Robert Barletta, the former president of the Hells Angels’ London chapter, at Pearson airport in Toronto.
Barletta is charged with six criminal offences, five of them gun-related, court records show.
Other alleged members and associates of the Hells Angels, the world’s largest outlaw biker club, were also arrested and appeared Friday at the Brampton courthouse, where supporters showed up.
Several sources have linked Barletta to Kajan, who is listed as the owner of the Commissioners Road house, according to city property records.
Five to six bikers wearing Hells Angels colours, including Barletta, visited the house regularly, said neighbours.
“She likes to party,” one neighbour said.
A knock at the door went unanswered Tuesday. There was visible damage to the front door.
Investigators are tight-lipped about the crackdown that led to Kajan’s arrest, saying they’ll release more information during a Thursday press conference at the OPP’s headquarters in Orillia.
“The investigation is still unfolding and other key factors need to be completed before we can release or say anything further. I can tell you it’s a large undertaking,” OPP Staff Sgt. Carolle Dionne said in an email.
A London police spokesperson referred all inquiries to the OPP.
Staff. Sgt. Anthony Renton, head of the OPP biker enforcement unit, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
It’s not clear whether the gambling charges against Kajan are connected to a large police bust of a massive, online gambling operation related to the Hells Angels in 2013.
In February 2013, about 400 police officers busted an invitation-only Super Bowl party in Markham for customers of Platinum Sports Book, an online gambling operation with servers in Costa Rica.
Those arrests were followed by raids a month later in 10 locations, including three properties in London.
Among those charged in London were several alleged leading members of the Hells Angels, including Barletta.
Charges of bookmaking for the benefit of a criminal organization and possessing proceeds of crime were withdrawn at the start of Barletta’s trial in 2016.
Barletta has long balanced membership in the Hells Angels, including being the London president, with a squeaky clean record, earning him the nickname “the Teflon biker.”
He was a founding member of the London chapter in 2003 and ran a strip club that became the target of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
A protracted legal battle ended with Barletta losing his liquor licence, despite not having a criminal record, because of his association with the Hells Angels.
Source: The London Free Press