Police find evidence of biker gangs in Pontiac: A routine police patrol check has revealed the presence of one of North America’s most powerful motorcycle gangs in Pontiac.

Two officers of the Pontiac MRC Sûreté du Québec discovered clothing bearing the crests of the U.S.-based Bandidos and the Quebec-based Rock Machine and Palmers motorcycle gangs in a Bryson bungalow at 12:05 a.m. Thursday.

The officers were looking for the owner of a car that was parked near the small, white clapboard house at 857 Central St. (This is the second time in just over two years that the vacant Central Street house was the scene of a drug bust. In December, 1998, police found 53 pot plants estimated at $26,000 growing under florescent lighting in the house.)

“They saw the car running with no one inside,” said Const. Pierre Robichaud, a public relations officer with the Montreal SQ.

“So, the police decided to advise the person that they are not allowed to leave a car running unattended. they saw tracks in the snow leading to the house with a light on inside.

“They knocked on the door and when someone opened it, the officers were hit with the heavy odour of hashish smoke.”

Inside the house were two teenaged males, 17- and 18-years-old, from Bryson. Neither lived at the house nor owned the car.

“We arrested the two guys and brought them to the station, where we waited for a search warrant,” said Robichaud.

“Interestingly,” he added, “the two guys don’t live there. The were put there for watching; they were put there by the bikers.”

Armed with a search warrant, the officers returned to the house where they found 91 grams of hashish and one gram of marijuana with an estimated street value of $2,500, a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle, and paraphernalia bearing the crests of the three biker gangs.

“They found a crest from the Palmers gang from Quebec,” said Robichaud, adding the SQ has been aware of that gang for a few years.

“They also found a T-shirt and a belt both with the Rock Machine crest and a shirt with the Bandidos crest on it,” he said.

“This is proof for us that members of the Rock Machine put the guys in the place to watch it.”

However, investigating officer Const. Jean-Denis Blier, of the Pontiac MRC SQ, said it is unusual that the crests of the motorcycle gangs would be left lying around as they were at the Bryson house.

“I’m sure the biker gang won’t be happy with the person who left the crest lying around,” he said.