Two fugitives charged with gang killings with outstanding warrants were among four B.C. men found dead, and now identified, after a mysterious small plane crash in a remote area of northwest Ontario.
One of the men, Gene Karl Lahrkamp, a suspected international hitman and former member of the Canadian army, bred Belgian Malinois dogs before ending up on a wanted and fugitive list from the Royal Police Thai.
Lahrkamp and a second man with Canadian military training, Matthew Dupre, 36, have been accused by Royal Thai Police of traveling to Phuket Island to assassinate former Abbotsford mobster Jimi Sandhu, who was shot by two suspects in hoodies on February 5. .
Dupre was arrested in Alberta and remains in jail pending extradition.
Lahrkamp’s body was one of four recovered from the wreckage of a four-seat Piper PA 28-140 found near Sioux Lookout, Ont., in the early hours of April 30.
Dupre and Lahrkamp were released from the Canadian Armed Forces as corporals, according to the CAF.
The links between 4 deceased still a mystery
sergeant. Brenda Winpenny of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU-BC), which was assisting Thai police in their search for Lahrkamp, said a rare interim arrest warrant was issued for Lahrkamp to help at the Phuket murder investigation before he was found dead along with the other three men.
“We do not know the individuals who were on the plane,” she added.
Winpenny says investigators will investigate why the foursome were together and any connection between them.
“What were the circumstances under which Gene Lahrkamp was on that plane?”
A man with ties to the Independent Soldiers gang – Duncan Bailey, 37 – was also found in the wreckage.
Bailey had been released on bail for conspiracy to commit murder related to a shooting in Vancouver on October 6, 2020, in which 42-year-old Mir Hussain was shot dead while carrying a baby in a child seat. auto as he left the bells. and Whistles Pub in Vancouver’s Dunbar neighborhood.
Bailey was charged with conspiring to kill Hussain with a co-conspirator.
While Hussain survived that shooting, he was fatally shot in May 2021 in Coquitlam in an as yet unsolved homicide.
Pilot of fatal plane crash identified
Dan McLaughlin of the BC Prosecution Service told CBC News that a warrant for Bailey’s arrest was issued on April 26 after he breached several bail conditions.
A civil forfeiture case filed against Bailey and another Kamloops man last November reveals Vancouver police seized $400,000 from a residence in Okotoks, Alta. which would have been the payment for filming Hussain in 2020.
Bailey had been charged with breaching his bond. A warrant was issued for his arrest on April 26, according to the BC Prosecution Service.
On Tuesday, police confirmed the pilot who died in the plane crash was Abhivan Handa, 26, of Richmond, British Columbia.
On Wednesday, the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed the name of the fourth man – Hankun Hong, 27, of Richmond, British Columbia – after notifying his family.
“Today we were able to ensure that family members in another country were made aware of the tragic end of the fourth victim in a plane crash in northwestern Ontario,” said CBC Ontario Provincial Police spokesperson Bill Dickson in an interview.
The Ontario Provincial Police and the Transportation Safety Board are both investigating the crash.
Eric Vermette, a senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, says they will review everything from aircraft maintenance records to pilot qualification records and weather conditions to determine why the small plane crashed.
He said the sky was overcast and there had been some light rain during the flight.
The search was launched on April 29 when the plane did not arrive as scheduled on its flight plan and the plane’s emergency locator transponder began transmitting.
A search and rescue team was coordinated from the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) in Trenton, Ontario.
David Lavallee, a public affairs officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force, confirmed that the search for the Piper began near Sioux Lookout, Ont., early Saturday.
It was found after searchers approached the locator transponder about 100 kilometers east of Dryden, Ontario.
Four bodies were found at the crash site in a wooded area.
The aircraft was flying from Dryden, Ontario, eastbound to Marathon, Ontario.
The plane took off in Dryden around 9:09 p.m. on April 29, according to aviation officials.
Civil Aviation records show the plane – which is owned by a woman from Richmond, British Columbia – originally departed Delta Heritage Park Airport on April 23.
