Two former Canadian army men have been identified by Thai police authorities as the alleged killers of former Vancouver-based United Nations gangster Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, who was gunned down in Phuket in what appears to be an international band of assassins who tracked Sandhu from Dubai to his beach front villa in the resort town of Thailand. Thai Police have identified the two gunmen who gunned down Sandhu as Gene Karl Lahrkamp and Matthew Leandre Ovide Dupre, both in their mid 30s and both are allegedly former or current members of the Canadian armed forces. Police in the island nation has put out arrest warrants for both in the gangland killing of India-born Sandhu on February 4 in Rawai, Phuket. 

By R. Paul Dhillon With News Files

PHUKET, Thailand/VANCOUVER – Two former Canadian army men have been identified by Thai police authorities as the alleged killers of former Vancouver-based United Nations gangster Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, who was gunned down in Phuket in what appears to be an international band of assassins who tracked Sandhu from Dubai to his beach front villa in the resort town of Thailand. 

Thai Police have identified the two gunmen who gunned down Sandhu as Gene Karl Lahrkamp and Matthew Leandre Ovide Dupre, both in their mid 30s and both are allegedly former or current members of the Canadian armed forces. Police in the island nation has put out arrest warrants for both in the gangland killing of India-born Sandhu on February 4 in Rawai, Phuket. 

Sandhu grew up in Abbotsford, BC after coming here as a child but was deported back to India in 2016 for serious criminality because he never became a Canadian citizen. After being deported, Sandhu had been travelling between Dubai and SouthEast Asia after escaping India following being arrested for running ketamine drug producing factories.

Arrest warrants against Lahrkamp and Dupre follow an intensive investigation by Thai police, which collected forensic evidence from the rented Toyota used by the two men and on the two guns found in the shallows of Rawai Beach, that police allege were used in the shooting.

Phuket Police spokesperson Kissana Pattanacharoen told local media that the suspected gunmen were identified “through confessions of some gang members who were arrested earlier”.

Following Sandhu’s murder, there have been number of gangland murders including that of Juvraj Jabal and Sarbjit “Nikku” Sandar, both connected to the criminal world of drug smuggling and gangs in BC and Sandar to the notorious Bhola drug cartel in Punjab, India.

Police in BC are investigating a Surrey, Vancouver, shooting last Tuesday that killed Jabal, which they believe may have been in retaliation for the shooting of Sandhu, a former  ‘United Nations’ crime gang member who have been rivals of the  ‘Brothers Keepers’ gang that Jabal belonged to.

It was reported in local media that rival gang members from both the ‘Brothers Keepers’ and the ‘Wolf Pack’ were ‘celebrating’ Sandhu’s killing on social media during the past week.

Back in Thailand, the two killers of Sandhu from Canada are being pursued over charges of “colluding in murder, murder, illegal possession of a weapon and discharging an illegal firearm in a public place”. Police say they are aware of the movements and flights out of Thailand following the shooting, at close range, of the Indian at his villa on the south of the island.

The two gunmen Lahrkamp and Dupre are said to have arrived in Phuket six weeks before the shooting and then departed two days after the incident. The two men are believed to be connected to crime gangs in the British Columbia region of Canada. One or both believed to have served in the ‘military’ but this has not yet been confirmed by the Canadian armed forces or police.

Daniel Le Bouthillier, head of media relations for the Department of National Defence, told Postmedia Sunday that he couldn’t comment on whether Lahrkamp and Dupre are former members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

“Unfortunately, we will not be in a position to confirm this information today,” he said in an emailed statement to Postmedia. 

Sandhu was shot 10 times in the parking area of his beachfront villa on Rawai Beach just before 11pm on February 4, although his body wasn’t discovered until 6.30am the next morning. Some 20 bullet casings were recovered from the crime scene.

CCTV footage showed the two men walking down the driveway to Sandhu’s villa where he had just arrived in his rented red SUV. They were wearing white hoodies, beige shorts and black ‘flip flops’ (sandals, thongs). The ‘hoodies’ were allegedly found in a rubber plantation 200 metres from the crime scene last Monday morning.

Sandhu’s body remains at Vachira Hospital in Phuket Town following the completion of an autopsy. The victim’s relatives are making arrangements to repatriate his body to India and will arrive in Phuket today and tomorrow.

Thai police found two guns, a CZ 9mm semi-automatic pistol and Walther 9mm fully automatic. They were found in the shallows off Rawai beach, 100-150 metres away from the villa complex where Sandhu was shot. Police used metal detectors to locate the weapons.

Police say the weapons were registered to Thai nationals, a retired policeman and a Thai soldier. Police are now pursuing the two registered owners of the weapons for questioning. But as of Sunday, the notices had not been issued for either Lahrkamp or Dupre. Red notices are issued for foreign fugitive wanted for prosecution or who have fled before sentencing.

Meanwhile senior police say they are now working with Interpol and Canadian police to try and locate the two alleged murderers Lahrkamp and Dupre so they can brought back to Thailand for trial.

Postmedia reported Monday that RCMP media officer Sgt. Caroline Duval said Monday that Mounties are “assisting the Royal Thai Police in an ongoing investigation related to an homicide that occurred in Phuket.”

But she added that “it would be inappropriate for RCMP to comment on an ongoing investigation led by another law enforcement service.”