Canada police charge five in biker mass murders

TORONTO - Canadian police charged five people on Monday after the worst mass murder in Ontario's history and said the killings were likely the result of an internal dispute of a biker gang.

The eight bodies were found on Saturday on a farm outside Shedden, Ontario, a sleepy town roughly midway between Toronto and Detroit.

Police said the victims were all either full members or associates of the Bandidos gang. They had been shot dead.

Police have charged five people, including one local Bandidos gang member, with first-degree murder.

Speculation that the deaths were gang-related increased on Sunday after police raided the nearby home of the Bandidos member later arrested. However, the police dismissed early speculation that the deaths were part of a dispute with the rival Hells Angels gang.

"This is an isolated incident with ties to the Bandidos," Ontario Provincial Police superintendent Ross Bingley told a news conference in nearby London, Ontario.

"We are confident that the public safety for area residents has not been compromised."

One officer suggested the crime could have stemmed from an "internal cleansing" of the gang.

The case shocked the rural Ontario region where the bodies were found and fueled fears about biker turf wars and related drug trade in a country with a relatively low crime rate.

The Hells Angels issued a statement on its website, distancing themselves from the murders.

Police said they were still investigating and suggested the men may not have been killed where they had been found. They would not speculate whether there might be more arrests.

They would not say if the victims had been held captive before they were killed, but noted that the charge of first-degree murder implies either deliberate planning or forceful confinement.

- REUTERS