Raids targeting Hells Angels members and associates at dozens of locations in three provinces resulted in more than 30 arrests, but tight-lipped police released few other details Wednesday.

A police officer removes a steel sculpture of a skull from the Toronto Hells Angels clubhouse Wednesday.
(CBC)

Most of the 40 raided locations were in Ontario, but at least one was in New Brunswick and one in a third province, which sources say was British Columbia, a fact police have not yet confirmed.

Toronto police deflected questions from reporters Wednesday afternoon, saying another press conference scheduled for the following day would provide more information.

Included in the raids was the largest clubhouse in Canada, the Hells Angels' downtown Toronto building, which Toronto police Staff Insp. Joe Tomei called a "very significant" hit.

At about 5:30 a.m. ET, members of the OPP's biker enforcement unit began raiding the building on Eastern Avenue. It appeared officers entered the building through a hole in a concrete wall leading into the ground floor washroom.

Later in the day, police officers drilled to remove the Hells Angels sign from the clubhouse under the bright lights of reporters' television cameras, signalling their seizure of the property. Replacing it was a sign saying "Seized" in large block letters.

"To the great relief of the community, we are now tenants of that clubhouse," Tomei announced at the conference.

But one resident of the gritty downtown neighbourhood surrounding the clubhouse had a different take.

"These are the safest three blocks in Toronto. Nobody messes with Hells Angels," said the resident who asked to remain unnamed. "[The police] are not doing us any favours.

"The police should concentrate on cleaning up drugs that are on the streets. Two doors over from where I live is a house where all kinds of things are going on all night long."

Author Julian Sher said the bust of the group's model clubhouse has hurt the tough-guy image of the Angels.

"This is a huge blow to the pride of the Hells Angels. They're angry," said Sher, co-author of a book on the biker gang, Angels of Death.

Project Develop led to busts

The busts followed 18 months of investigation into bike gang activity by 300 officers from the OPP, RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency under an operation dubbed Project Develop.

Local police forces were also involved in the Ontario raids, including those in Toronto, Niagara, Waterloo, Barrie, Durham and London.

The OPP said most charges are related to weapons and drugs, such as cocaine and GHB, known as a date-rape drug.

Police entered a Hells Angels bunker in Toronto through a hole in a wall.
(CBC)

OPP Const. Pam Higham called the busts a "bonus for the people of Ontario."

"Bikers, they try to make themselves look like they are kind, outstanding, wonderful citizens, when in essence it is organized crime," she said.