Alleged hitman in Phuket murder of Jimi Sandhu dies in plane crash in Canada

A fugitive wanted in relation to the assassination of a suspected gang member in Phuket has died in a plane crash in Canada. 36-year-old Gene Karl Lahrkamp was among 4 people who died when the small plane in which he was travelling crashed in Ontario, according to a Vancouver Sun report.

Lahrkamp has been on the run since February, managing to flee Thailand with co-accused Matthew Dupre, following the murder of Indian-Canadian gang member, Jimi Sandhu. Sandhu was gunned down outside his villa in Rawai, on the southern island of Phuket, on the night of February 5.

Dupre was arrested in Canada on February 20 and remains in custody pending a hearing on his potential extradition to Thailand. However, Lahrkamp had managed to evade capture, until his body was recovered from the plane crash site on April 30.

According to the report, the plane was also carrying 37-year-old Duncan Bailey, who also has links to a criminal gang and who was out on bail following a conspiracy to commit murder charge. That charge related to a shooting in Vancouver in October, 2020.

The authorities in Ontario are now conducting a criminal investigation into the flight and the cause of the crash. It’s understood the small aircraft left the city of Dryden, Ontario, just after 9.00pm on April 29, flying to the town of Marathon, 700 kilometres away. When the plane did not land as scheduled, a search was launched and the crash site located around 7.45am the following morning.

Police in Canada have launched an investigation to determine why the 2 gang members were travelling on the flight, as well as looking into possible crimes committed in Canada in relation to Sandhu’s murder in Thailand. Sergeant Brenda Winpenny says her team, “will be working with our policing partners to establish what, if any, connections the occupants of the plane may have to each other.”

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun