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VANCOUVER — More than two dozen of the longshoremen unloading container ships on the docks of Metro Vancouver are Hells Angels, their associates, other gangsters or people with serious criminal records, a Vancouver Sun investigation has found.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or How Hells Angels and criminal gangs came to control much of the Vancouver docks Back to video

The infiltration of gangsters and criminals into the port workforce is perpetuated by a longtime employment practice that allows existing union members to nominate friends, relatives and associates when new jobs become available.

Police say organized crime maintains this foothold on the waterfront for strategic purposes — so drugs and other contraband can be smuggled in some of the more than 1.5 million containers that pass through the four container terminals at Port Metro Vancouver every year.

Just over three per cent of containers arriving here are checked by the Canada Border Services Agency.

“It is a concern to us. We feel that a lot of the illegal drugs that come into this country come in through our ports,” said Det.-Staff. Sgt. Len Isnor, the country’s top law enforcement expert on the Hells Angels.

We feel that a lot of the illegal drugs that come into this country come in through our ports

Isnor, who works for the Ontario Provincial Police, has testified at several major B.C. cases involving the biker gang.

Isnor said the Hells Angels have maintained a foothold in Canada’s three largest ports — Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax — for the past 30 years.