Officers in the Edmonton area spent much of Wednesday morning executing a number of search warrants in the capital region, as part of an extensive investigation surrounding an area chapter of the Hells Angels.

Investigators with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) executed ten search warrants Wednesday morning – one in Acheson, one in Strathcona County, one in Leduc, and seven in Edmonton.

Police said a number of individuals associated with the club were arrested, and are facing organized crime-related charges.

However, one criminologist said he doubts officers brought major players into custody during the raids.

“Typically this doesn’t turn up a whole lot; [it] looks good on television, good for police morale,” criminologist Bill Pitt said. “As far as putting a dent in anything, [it’s] not very significant at all.”

According to ALERT, the investigation is still in the early stages, and investigators are working to catalog evidence – no additional information on the case was available Wednesday.

With files from Dan Grummett