Matthew Dupre, a suspected hitman implicated in the assassination of a Canadian mobster in Phuket on February 4, 2022, has been returned to Thailand to stand trial for murder.
The return journey was facilitated by a joint operation involving the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) special weapons and tactics team, and members of an air force special operations unit, on a charter flight from Vancouver, Canada.
This charter flight, carrying Mr Dupre, touched down at the Wing 6 terminal of Don Mueang Airport on Sunday night, around 11pm.
The airport’s security was significantly ramped up and operations temporarily halted. About 30 members from the Hanuman unit and air force ground security team greeted the flight.
Subsequent to his arrival, Mr Dupre was transported via a secured vehicle convoy to the CSD headquarters.
His detension is currently overseen by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB). According to an insider, Mr Dupre has rejected all claims made against him.
He was relocated from the CSD to the Bangkok Remand Prison on Monday afternoon.
Mr Dupre, deemed a high-risk detainee and identified as part of a significant international crime network, was kept under surveillance by the CSD’s Hanuman special weapons and tactics team.
Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas, the national police chief, held a media briefing at the CSD to discuss the extradition.
As per Pol Gen Damrongsak, Mr Dupre is a military veteran who served in Afghanistan and later worked in the security sector in Middle Eastern countries.
On February 4, 2022, Jimi Sandhu, a member of the Canadian mafia, was discovered lifeless in the car park of a coastal villa resort on Rawai Beach in the Muang district of Phuket.
Sandhu had been gunned down, and 21 bullet casings were collected from the site.
Security footage from the villa showed two foreign shooters entering the property; Mr Dupre was identified as one of them.
The other suspect, Gene Lahrkamp, 36, perished in an airplane accident in Canada in May 2022 alongside an individual reportedly affiliated with the Independent Soldiers, a criminal organization based in British Columbia.
Pol Gen Damrongsak indicated that Mr Dupre, along with Lahrkamp, were primary suspects as they were part of the Red Scorpions, a criminal group that was at odds with Sandhu’s affiliated group.
The Phuket Court issued an arrest warrant for Mr Dupre and his purported co-conspirator on February 11, 2022, on grounds of premeditated murder, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and public usage of those firearms.
It was later discovered by the police that both suspects had departed Thailand for Canada on February 6th.
