A plane crash in the rugged interior of Canada during seemingly calm weather sparked a federal investigation into what may have brought down the small plane.

But the revelations that two of the passengers were fleeing murder and conspiracy charges and had ties to organized crime only deepened the mystery surrounding the doomed flight.

Over the weekend, rescue teams dispatched a search plane and two helicopters to scour the forest in northwestern Ontario following reports of a plane that failed. never reached its intended destination.

On Saturday, the wreckage of a small plane, a four-seat Piper PA-28 Cherokee, was discovered near Sioux City Lookout, guided by the plane’s emergency locator beacon. Neither the pilot, Abhinav Handa, nor the three passengers survived the crash.

Among those on board the plane were Gene Lahrkamp, one of the country’s most wanted men with a $100,000 Canadian ($78,000 US) bounty on his head, according to the British Columbia Combined Forces Special Unit.

Lahrkamp, ​​a former military man, was the prime suspect in the murder of gang member Jimi Sandhu, who was shot while staying at a villa in Phuket, Thailand in February.

Sandhu was born in India but grew up in the Canadian city of Abbotsford, British Columbia, where he joined the United Nations gang. He was deported to India in 2016 by Canadian authorities for “serious criminality” and was arrested there two years later for his role in a ketamine manufacturing operation.

Thai police allege that Lahrkamp and his co-conspirator Matthew Dupre, another former soldier, traveled to Thailand to kill Sandhu, whose body was found riddled with bullets.

Thai police say she wore hoodies and face masks for the attack and they fled to Canada two days after the shooting.

Sandhu’s death marks the second recent shooting of a Canadian-linked gang member overseas. in January, Two Toronto men linked to the Hells Angels have been killed near the resort town of Playa del Carmen in Mexico.

Dupre was arrested by Canadian police in late February and is awaiting extradition. An Interpol red notice for Lahrkamp warned he could be armed and dangerous, as well as possibly suicidal.

There was also on board the plane Duncan Bailey, another suspected gang member, who was facing conspiracy to commit murder charges for a 2020 shooting in Vancouver. A warrant for Bailey’s arrest was issued in late April after BC prosecutors said he breached his bail conditions.

The fourth person on board has been identified as Hankun Hong, a resident of British Columbia. It is unclear whether he was a co-pilot on the flight or a passenger. Images on his Facebook page show the 27-year-old piloting a small plane in western British Columbia.

The plane left the province on April 23, making frequent refueling stops as it moved east. The plane left the town of Dryden, Ontario, on the night of Friday April 29, and was due to land in the town of Marathon, about 700 kilometers away.

Authorities have not yet said whether they know where the plane was headed after its stopover in Marathon, but the Ontario Provincial Police said they are conducting a criminal investigation into the flight and possible connections between the passengers. .

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