Jailed veteran in limbo after judge supports extradition over Thailand mob assassination

The fate of jailed Canadian Forces veteran — and alleged contract killer — Matthew Dupre is now in the hands of Justice Minister David Lametti.

A judge has supported Dupre’s written request for extradition to Thailand to face a murder charge, even though it means risking death by lethal injection if he is convicted.

Now, all that’s needed is the approval of justice minister David Lametti.

Lametti did not return the Star’s requests for comment.

Earlier this week, Dupre’s lawyer, Maurice Collard, provided Edmonton Justice Denise Kiss with a written “Consent to Surrender” request for extradition to Thailand to face murder charges.

Dupre, 37, has been in custody in Canada on a warrant from Thailand since Feb. 20, 2022, when he was arrested at his home in Sylvan Lake, Alta., near Red Deer.

“He is optimistic that things are starting to move forward and that he will soon be surrendered to Thailand,” Dupre’s lawyer Maurice Collard said in an email. “If he has not surrendered to Thailand I am instructed to bring an application for his release from custody and will do so.”

Thai authorities allege that Dupre was part of a hit team that shot mobster Jimi Singh (Slice) Sandhu to death on Feb. 4, 2022, outside his luxury rented villa on the island of Phuket.

Sandhu, who was previously deported from Canada in 2016 for “serious criminality,” was a member of the United Nations gang who got his nickname for a scar on his face allegedly inflicted by an underworld rival.

At the time of Sandhu’s death, the United Nations gang was locked in a bloody war with rival group the Wolfpack Alliance. Members of both groups were heavily involved in drug trafficking.

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

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

“Mr. Dupre is frustrated that he has been in jail for over a year,” Collard’s letter to Kiss states. “He believes the Government of Canada has been dragging its feet as he languishes in jail without trial or charges in Canada.”

Dupre’s lawyers had originally argued against extradition, noting he faced the threat of the death penalty if convicted.

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.

Peter Edwards is a Toronto-based reporter primarily covering crime for the Star. Reach him via email: pedwards@thestar.ca