Recently, police agencies put out a reward for the capture of the killer of former Abbotsford-based gangster Jimi Sandhu but the killer, a former Canadian soldier, has been flying around Canada before he also met his maker last week when he was killed in a plane crash in Ontario along with a Kamloops gangster in a plane piloted by an Indo-Canadian man from Richmond. A reward of $100,000 by a national police program had been announced for the capture of Gene Karl Lahrkamp, 36, who was charged with killing Sandhu in Thailand in February along with another Canadian military man Matthew Dupre, also 36. Both Dupre and Lahrkamp are facing murder and conspiracy charges in gang-linked killing of Sandhu in Phuket, Thailand.

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff With News Files

RICHMOND – Recently, police agencies put out a reward for the capture of the killer of former Abbotsford-based gangster Jimi Sandhu but the killer, a former Canadian soldier, has been flying around Canada before he also met his maker last week when he was killed in a plane crash in Ontario along with a Kamloops gangster in a plane piloted by an Indo-Canadian man from Richmond.

A reward of $100,000 by a national police program had been announced for the capture of Gene Karl Lahrkamp, 36, who was charged with killing Sandhu in Thailand in February along with another Canadian military man Matthew Dupre, also 36.

Both Dupre and Lahrkamp are facing murder and conspiracy charges in gang-linked killing of Sandhu in Phuket, Thailand.

While Lahrkamp died along with three other people, including 26-year-old pilot Abhinav Handa, in northwestern Ontario when a small plane crashed there last week, Dupre has been in jail since his arrest in February.

Trail resident Lahrkamp had been on the run since February when Royal Thai Police alleged he and co-accused Dupre travelled to Thailand to kill former Abbotsford resident and United Nations gangster Sandhu. Both are ex-Canadian military, reported Postmedia.

Dupre was arrested on Feb. 20 in Sylvan Lake, Alta., and remains in jail pending an extradition hearing. But Lahrkamp had been on the run until his body was among those recovered April 30 at the crash site near Sioux Lookout, Ont.

Also on the four-seater Piper PA 28-140 plane was Kamloops resident Duncan Bailey, 37, who is linked to the Independent Soldiers gang. He had been out on bail on a conspiracy to commit murder charge related to a Vancouver shooting on Oct. 6, 2020, reported Postmedia.

The Ontario Provincial Police is conducting a criminal investigation into the mysterious flight, while the Transportation Safety Board also has a probe into why the plane went down.

OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said the pilot Handa was also a resident of Richmond, BC. But Dickson said he couldn’t release the identity of the fourth victim as family members had not yet been located and notified.

Transportation Safety Board official Eric Vermette told Postmedia that the small plane left Dryden, Ont., at 9:09 p.m. central time on April 29, headed for Marathon, Ont., about 700 kilometres away.

Civil aviation records show the plane is owned by a Richmond woman and that it left Delta Heritage Park Airport just before 6 p.m. on April 23. It passed over Chilliwack, then headed east. It departed southern Alberta on the evening of April 28 and Swift Current on the morning of April 29, reported Postmedia.

So how did an alleged B.C. hitman Lahrkamp end up on a plane in northwestern Ontario with a Kamloops gangster Bailey accused in a Vancouver murder plot?

Bailey was charged in November with plotting to kill Mir Hussain 13 months earlier. Hussain was leaving a West Side pub with his wife and children when he was shot on Oct. 6, 2020, reported Postmedia.

Hussain survived the shooting, but was killed on May 22, 2021. His murder remains unsolved.

According to a civil forfeiture case filed against Bailey and former Kamloops resident Sheldon Viney last November, Vancouver Police seized almost $400,000 in Okotoks, Alta., that was allegedly payment for the 2020 Hussain shooting.

The cash was seized on Dec. 16, 2020 at Viney’s residence, reported Postmedia.