Police shifted their ongoing organized-crime crackdown from the Hells Angels to one of its puppet clubs Thursday, conducting raids east of Montreal on a group called Devil's Child.

At least 80 officers from several law-enforcement agencies descended on Devil's Child operations in Drummondville, St-Hyacinthe, Sorel and Victoriaville.

Officers arrested 17 people who are accused of trying to control the drug trade in Victoriaville and Drummondville.

The suspects are to be arraigned at the Victoriaville courthouse on charges of gangsterism, drug trafficking and conspiracy.

Trois-Rivieres police, the Surete du Quebec and the RCMP took part in the four-year investigation.

Bad year for bikers

Thursday's raid was the third major operation against the Hells in Quebec this year and the second in two days.

Dozens of Hells Angels and associates were arrested throughout southern Quebec on Wednesday as part of Operation Machine.

In April, police arrested 156 Hells Angels and their associates as the culmination of more than 80 investigations going back to 1995.

Police seized five Hells Angels bunkers throughout the province in that raid and they claimed at the time that they shut down the biker gang's East Coast operation.