In the course of last week’s intensive investigation which saw up to 20 police teams in Phuket led by the National Police Commissioner General Suwat Jangyodsuk, probe every aspect of the gangland hit, a Russian man was also taken into custody who is believed to have planted a GPS tracking device on the Indian victim’s car prior to the murder.
Thai Police have released the identities of two Canadian citizens against whom they are seeking to have Interpol arrest warrants issued in respect of charges relating to the killing of 32-year-old Indian crime world figure Jimmy Sandhu on Friday night last, February 4th. The next challenge facing officers in charge of prosecuting the case against the two suspected hitmen, both former soldiers, is Canada’s extradition laws and a significant Supreme Court ruling in 2001 which prohibits the extradition of Canadian nationals to any country or territory where the death penalty is an option available to the courts.
Thai police have released the names of the two suspected hitmen who cold-bloodedly gunned down Indian gangster Jimmy Sandhu on February 4th last just outside his luxury rented villa in the Rawai Beach area of Phuket.
Both men are Canadian, 36 years of age and are believed to be former soldiers. They are Gene Karl Lanrkamp and Matthew Leandre Ovide Dupre.
Arrest warrants were issued by Phuket Provincial Court in Phuket on Friday after police submitted applications for the arrest of 2 Canadian men
It is understood that the Provincial Court in Phuket on Friday approved two warrants for the arrest of the suspects on charges of illegal possession and use of firearms, carrying firearms in public without justifiable urgency and conspiracy to murder.
Royal Thai Police officers are now in communication with their counterparts in Canada and the international police agency Interpol as they seek to have international arrest warrants issued for the pair so that they can be returned to Thailand to face justice.
Police Commissioner agreed to the release of the suspect’s identities as moves are underway for Interpol ‘Red Notice’ warrants across 195 countries
The release of the identity of the suspected killers was approved in the last 24 hours by Thailand’s National Police Commissioner General Suwat Jangyodsuk who has played a leading and decisive role in the investigation to identify and bring the hired assassins to book since the weekend before last.
The Interpol arrest warrants, red notices, when issued, will be effective in 195 countries around the world although the process to have the men extradited to Thailand will present authorities here with another challenge.
In the last few days, the Royal Thai Police revealed that both men flew out of Thailand separately on the Sunday after the Friday night attack after one boarded a flight from Phuket to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Another was seen, in photos released by police, arriving at the airport by taxi for his flight.
Family of victim fly in to collect his remains
It comes with reports that the family of 32-year-old Jimmy Sandhu, a crime figure active in both India and the Vancouver metro area of Canada where he is understood to have taken part in a violent and lethal feud or gangland war between two rival drug gangs there, are preparing to fly into Thailand to reclaim his body.
It was initially ordered to be taken to Police General Hospital in Bangkok for an autopsy but is now understood to be held at the Vachira Phuket Hospital morgue on the resort island.
Police are believed to have built a very strong case against the two suspects, believed to be hired hitmen who disposed of their weapons minutes after they gunned down their quarry on the beach in Rawai opposite a derelict seafront property.
Guns located on Rawai Beach were owned by Thai nationals including a policeman in northern Thailand
The two weapons are reported to have been legally registered to Thai nationals with reports that one of them is connected with a policeman in northern Thailand.
It is believed that investigating officers are seeking to question both men as part of their investigation.
The victim of what is now known to have been an international gangland hit, Mr Sandhu, had been staying in Thailand since his arrival on December 27th last as a tourist and used the name Mandeep Singh for which he had a false passport and other identification documents.
Phuket tourist murder on Friday night was an international gangland hit on a known drug player
Notorious former B.C. gangster shot to death in Thailand
He was deported from Canada in 2016 after a long battle with immigration authorities there and a violent career in crime as an active member of the United Nations drug-dealing gang in Vancouver and Abbotsford where his exploits were covered extensively by the long-established Vancouver Sun newspaper.
Jimmy Sandhu pursued a life of crime in Vancouver after immigrating with his family when 7 years old
Vancouver is a city and large metropolis in Canada with a multicultural population of 2.6 million people where only 47% of residents are of European descent.
Jimmy Sandhu was convicted of various offences including carrying illegal firearms in his criminal career in North America but police in Vancouver and the smaller city of Abbotsford where the gangster resided, warned that he was a target for assassination and that, therefore, he was a potential threat to the public before his detention and eventual deportation back to India.
Sandhu had come to Canada in the 1990’s aged 7 with his family as an immigrant.
Phuket tourist murder on Friday night was an international gangland hit on a known drug player
Mr Sandhu later fled India in 2018 after police there unearthed a ketamine factory and spent his time travelling between Dubai and East Asia.
Walther fully-automatic and CZ semi-automatic 9 mm handguns used in the hit forensically examined
The two handguns used in the February 4th killing, located by police last week, were a Walther 9mm fully-automatic and CZ 9mm semi-automatic.
The guns were recovered last Thursday and were being forensically examined by police before they applied for arrest warrants for the two Canadian suspects on Friday which were subsequently approved by the court.
In the course of their investigation which is understood to have involved up to twenty different police teams under the personal supervision of the national police chief, General Suwat, a Russian national was detained last week for questioning.
He was found to have fitted a GPS tracker device to the car of the victim at his villa home where police are also understood to have discovered quantities of ketamine.
Police investigators also revealed that both Canadian suspects travelled separately from Thailand on Sunday, February 6th leaving Suvarnabhumi Airport on separate international flight routes with one heading to Frankfurt and the other to Amsterdam.
Landmark Supreme Court ruling in Canada in 2001 looms if the two Canadians are eventually arrested
It is thought that one of the main hurdles facing the Royal Thai Police at this time will be the question of extraditing the two suspects to face justice in Thailand.
The kingdom still has the death penalty on its books and carried out an execution at Bang Kwang Prison on June 18th 2018.
Fingerprints being sent to Canada – African murder suspect is Nigerian and not South African as reported
In 2001, the Canadian Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, set a precedent that Canada may not extradite offenders to another jurisdiction where they may be subject to the death penalty.
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Phuket tourist murder on Friday night was an international gangland hit on a known drug player
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