Man accused of killing BC gangster Jimi Sanhu extradited to Thailand

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A former Canadian soldier and alleged hitman has been extradited to Thailand to face trial for the murder of longtime B.C. resident and United Nations gangster Jimi “Slice” Sandhu.

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Matthew Dupre, 38, agreed to voluntarily return to Thailand before exhausting the extradition process in Canada.

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On Saturday, Dupre was flown on an RCMP plane from Edmonton to Vancouver, where he met a Royal Thai Air Force jet under heavy police security at Vancouver airport.

The Thai government plane then flew Dupre to Bangkok, where he landed about 11 p.m. local time Sunday, according to the Bangkok Post.

The Post also said Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport was closed for security reasons as the plane landed.

Sandhu, who grew up in Abbotsford before being deported for serious criminality in 2016, was gunned down on Feb. 4, 2022 outside the beachfront villa he was renting on the tourist island of Phuket in Thailand. Despite living outside of Canada, he remained a leading figure in the UN gang, which was founded in the Fraser Valley in 1997.

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Postmedia travelled to Phuket in December to investigate the case and the Canadian murder suspects, alleged to have been hired by the rival Wolfpack Alliance to kill Sandhu.

Dupre was arrested at his Sylvan Lake, Alta., home about two weeks after the murder and his hasty return to Canada. His co-accused, Gene Lahrkamp, also a former Canadian soldier, died in a plane crash in Ontario in April 2022 after two months on the run.

Postmedia has learned there is a third Canadian suspect in the murder conspiracy who has not yet been charged.

At a news conference in Bangkok Monday, central investigation bureau commissioner Jirabhop Bhuridej told reporters how Dupre was brought back to the country.

And he confirmed that the air force plane was used when commercial airlines would not fly the alleged killer for security reasons.

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Last December, Alberta Court of King’s Bench Justice Denise Kiss said the evidence put before her in the case supported sending Dupre to Thailand for trial.

“I find that this evidence, viewed holistically, supports the reasonable inference that Mr. Dupre was involved in the alleged conduct and that the applicant has established a prima facie case against Mr. Dupre,” Kiss said, citing extensive surveillance video both before and after the murder, as well as evidence related to vehicles used in the hit.

The Thai government agreed to wave the death penalty in Dupre’s case.

B.C.’s anti-gang agency, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, continues to investigate the Canadian links to the murder conspiracy, Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said Monday.

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“CFSEU-BC continues to work in partnership with the Department of Justice and the RCMP International Liaison program in support of the Canadian aspects of the Royal Thai Police investigation into the homicide of Jimi “Slice” Sandhu,” she said.

More to come …

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