Escaped B.C. murder suspect convicted in Vancouver gangland execution

A man who escaped a B.C. prison earlier this summer while standing trial for a gangland slaying has been convicted while he remains at large. 

The BC Prosecution Service has confirmed that Rabih Alkhalil was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Sandip Duhre in January of 2012. Duhre was gunned down while sitting at a restaurant in a busy downtown Vancouver hotel, a brazen execution that caused terrified patrons to flee or fall to the floor.

Six months later, on a patio in Toronto's Little Italy, Johnny Raposo was shot four times in the head at point-blank range while sitting on a patio. Alkhalil was one of four men convicted of that murder.

Alkhalil was the last of the four suspects arrested in the killing and had to be extradited from Greece to stand trial in that case. All four men were ultimately sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years in 2017.

In 2018, two more men were charged in connection with Duhre's murder. Hells Angel Larry Amero stood trial along with Alkhalil and was found guilty of conspiracy to commit Duhre's murder. The third man is being tried separately.

Both Amero and Alkhalil were also convicted of this week of conspiracy to commit murder in the 2012 shooting death of Sukhveer (Sukh) Dhak, also a UN gang ally. Dhak and his bodyguard, Thomas Mantel, were fatally shot at a Burnaby hotel in front of shocked staff members.

The next court appearance is set for Aug. 31, when Amero is set to bring a Charter application related to his right to be tried in a reasonable time.

Alkhalil was not in court to hear the jury's verdict and it is unclear if or when he will ever be sentenced. In July, he escaped from the North Fraser Pretrial centre in Coquitlam in a white Econoline van with two people police described as either "posing or employed as contractors."

The van has since been found, but all three suspects remain at large.

Local Mounties have said they are being assisted in the manhunt by B.C.'s Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, the Vancouver Police Department, Canada Border Services Agency, and international agencies.