Canadian extradited to Thailand to face charges of being hit man

Dupre was eager to get the chance to face charges he murdered former Canadian resident Jimi (Slice) Sandhu in Phuket, Thailand in February 2022, Collard said.

“Mr. Dupre is happy he is no longer languishing in jail and Canada, and can now start to fight these allegations,” Collard said.

“He’s in a good mood and he’s being well treated,” Collard said.

No date has been set for the start of his trial, Collard said.

Thai police accused Dupre of being one of a pair of hooded gunmen who shot 32-year-old Sandhu dead while he was getting out of his red sports car at his beachfront villa in Rawai on the island of Phuket.

Sandhu was deported from Canada in 2016 for “serious criminality.”

Sandhu got his nickname for a prominent scar on his face allegedly inflicted by an underworld rival.

The United Nations gang, which Sandhu belonged to, was locked in a bloody war with rival group the Wolfpack Alliance. Members of both Canadian-based groups were heavily involved in drug trafficking.

Members of the Wolfpack Alliance were convicted of the June 2013 murder of Johnny Raposo on College Street in Toronto while Raposo watched a soccer game on a big-screen TV on a patio.

Dupre had been in custody in Canada after being arrested on Feb. 20, 2022, at his home in Sylvan Lake, Alta., near Red Deer.

Collard said that Dupre was arrested in his bed just hours after the birth of his daughter.

“He was not able to be a father to his newborn since this,” Collard said.

“This isn’t about being an international hit man,” Collard said. “This is about being a father, a veteran and a Canadian citizen.”

Earlier this year, Collard provided Edmonton Justice Denise Kiss with a written “Consent to Surrender” request for extradition to Thailand to face murder charges.

A week after Sandhu’s murder, the Royal Thai Police issued arrest warrants for Dupre and fellow Canadian Forces veteran Gene Karl Lahrkamp, 36. An Interpol alert for police forces around the world was also issued with red lettering, stating: “CAUTION: Armed, Dangerous, Escape Risk, Suicidal, Violent.”

In her ruling, Canadian judge Kiss noted that evidence provided by Thai authorities included sworn statements from a tourist who was on the beach at the time of Sandhu’s murder, a hotel receptionist, a car rental company employee and a driver who furnished dash cam footage.

The judge also referred to CCT footage, hotel, car rental and flight records and physical evidence, including bullets, pistols, clothing and DNA and fingerprint evidence.

Justice Kiss noted that some of the identification evidence against Dupre concerns a distinctive tattoo that runs from his right shoulder to his right wrist.

She also noted CCTV footage from an alley taken two days before the murder, in which Dupre and Lahrkamp “were observed inspecting what appeared to be a GPS tracker installed on the victim’s vehicle.”

Lahrkamp was killed in a small plane crash last April in northwestern Ontario. At the time of his death, he was on the RCMP’s most-wanted list.

Lahrkamp was a dog breeder in Trail, B.C. who offered special discounts on his Belgian Malinois pups to buyers with police and military backgrounds.

Lahrkamp held the rank of corporal when he left the military, after serving from 2012 to 2018.

Dupre, 36, was in the Canadian military from 2005 to 2013 and was also a corporal.

Sandhu had been charged with second-degree murder for stabbing gangland rival Matt Campbell to death in 2014, but the charge was eventually dropped.

The Thai Examiner reported that Sandhu had been “living a life of affluence travelling between Dubai and Southeast Asia” at the time of his murder.