Hells Angels clubhouse raided

A Hells Angels clubhouse was searched and a biker gang prospect arrested and charged with assault this week in Kelowna.

On Wednesday night, members of the Kelowna RCMP street enforcement unit, with officers from the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit and emergency response team, searched the clubhouse located in the city’s north end.

Hours earlier, during a traffic stop, police arrested 30-year-old Hells Angels prospect Colin Michael Bayley in connection with an incident in an establishment in the 300-block of Bernard Ave. in downtown Kelowna on May 6.

A 41-year-old Kelowna man was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police say the clubhouse search and Bayley’s arrest were connected.

Bayley was charged on Thursday with aggravated assault. He was released on bail following his appearance, and his next date in provincial court in Kelowna is scheduled for May 27.

Bayley has a number of traffic violations, according to online court records — speeding, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, and failing to display a new driver sign — and recently finished a 12-month probation order for an assault conviction from last April.

The clubhouse, along with two others in the province, is the subject of a civil forfeiture case. The provincial civil forfeiture office argues the clubhouse should be forfeited to the government because it is an “instrument of unlawful activity.”