Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 12/05) - Last Thursday, word of the imminent approach of more than 70 Hell's Angels to the community captivated the imagination of many in the town.

"We're not sure how the rumours got started, but as the story spread it got bigger and bigger," said Inuvik RCMP Staff Sgt. Sid Grey. "We were able to trace it back to a fellow in town but he said he heard it second-hand."

"They rode with a fine, unwashed arrogance, secure in their reputation as the rottenest motorcycle gang in the whole history of Christendom." Angels' History

When asked what would have been done in the event bikers had actually been on their way, Grey said he would not have allowed them to stay in town.

"For the sake of maintaining order (in Inuvik) we'd have met them on the road, let them gas up and turned them around," he said.

"If something like that was to transpire, obviously they're up here for no good reason."

The rumours stemmed from a situation in the early hours of July 24 when more than 75 members of the community gathered into a mob outside the Capital Suites Hotel. A group of eight men staying at the hotel were rumoured to be drug traffickers and the mob intended to run them out of town.

Grey acknowledged that the eight men were known to police, but he declined to provide their names.

"A couple have crossed paths with police in other parts of the country," Grey said, noting the men were from Whitehorse and the "outlying" Vancouver area. "But I can't name names because it would be character assassination."

Asked why suspected criminal elements visited Inuvik in the first place, Grey could only speculate.

"There could be some in town who have had dealings with them down south."

RCMP escorted five of the men back down the Dempster the following day, while the other three were escorted to Mike Zubko Airport and seen safely onto outbound flights.

Inuvik Mayor Peter Clarkson said he was told the eight men were in town to collect on drug debts, corroborating the stories heard from others in the community.

The rumoured debts ranged from $50,000 to $850,000 or more, depending on who one spoke to.

By late last Thursday, rumours of the Hell's Angels' progress up the Dempster indicated they were moving closer to town. One person claimed the bikers were actually stopped at the Tsiighetchic ferry crossing.

"There's 70 of them down there and the police won't let them cross," said the man, who declined to give his name.

Calls by News/North to the Eagle Plains Hotel, asking whether a contingent of bikers had stopped there to refuel or book rooms for the night, turned up nothing.

"Haven't seen any bikers here," a female hotel clerk reported.

Grey wasn't convinced the bikers would risk their machines on the Dempster, an unforgiving, 700-km dirt road. "Can you imagine one of those bikes on the Dempster?" he asked. "(They) wouldn't make it past Tombstone."

Grey said that by Thursday morning, the Inuvik detachment had received about 200 calls about the impending doom supposedly roaring up the highway towards Inuvik.

"We had calls from the Toronto Star and papers in Edmonton, not to mention people in the town," he said.