The Canadian government has extradited a Canadian murder suspect to Thailand to stand trial for the murder of an Indian gangster in Phuket on February 4th last year.
A Royal Thai Air Force plane flew to Canada to bring the suspect, 38-year-old Matthew Leandre Ovide Dupre, to Thailand on May 28th, in the company of a team of Thai police officers.
Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittipraphat, the national police chief, said yesterday (Monday), that a plane had to be sent because no commercial airlines were willing to carry him because of his criminal record.
A former mercenary, Dupre is alleged to have conspired with another Canadian in the killing of Jimi “Slice” Sandhu, 32, who, according to the Vancouver Sun, had an extensive criminal record in Canada, in the parking lot of a luxurious beachfront villa in Phuket. About 12 spent shells were found at the crime scene.
The two hitmen flew back to Canada on February 6th, said Pol Gen Damrongsak adding, however, that Thai police managed to find out their identities and sought a warrant for their arrest as well as help from the Interpol. Canadian police arrested Dupre on February 15th last year.
The other suspect, 37-year-old Gene Karl Lahrkamp, also a Canadian, is reported to have died in Canada on April 29th last year in a plane crash, with another man who had links to a mercenary group.
Itthiporn Kaewthip, deputy attorney-general, said that they are waiting for additional evidence from Canada and more findings from the Thai police before they can proceed with the case to the Criminal Court.
Meanwhile, a senior prosecutor attached to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Office of the Attorney-General, said that, according to the Extradition Treaty signed between Thailand and Canada in 2008, the Thai government can seek the extradition of a criminal suspect on the condition that they will not face the death penalty.
The prosecutor said that, in the past, Thailand’s extradition requests for some suspects were rejected by their countries because they were concerned that their nationals would be executed if convicted.
