Two hardened criminals, one an international fugitive and both wanted on murder-related charges, were passengers killed on a Cherokee 140 that crashed in Northern Ontario April 29. A pilot and another man also died in the crash. The plane’s ELT led searchers to the crash site about 40 km. southeast of Sioux Lookout, Ont. early on April 30 but it’s likely the crash occurred the day before. The fugitives who died were Gene Karl Lahrkamp, 36, and Duncan Bailey, 37, both wanted for gang-related murders in B.C. and Thailand. The pilot was Abhinav Handa, 26, and the other man was Hankun Hong, 27, both of Richmond, B.C. It’s not clear if Handa and Hong had any relationship with the older men, who have a long record of violence and prison stays in B.C.’s turbulent gang culture.
The aircraft left Dryden, Ont. at 9.09 p.m. on April 29 on a flight to Marathon, Ont. and had been in the air for less than an hour before crashing in a remote area near Kukukus Lake. The aircraft was privately owned but the owner hasn’t been identified. The Transportation Safety Board has sent an investigator to the site and there is lots of police interest. Lahrkamp, from Kincardine, Ont., was one of Canada’s most wanted people and there was a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. He was accused of killing a B.C. gang member in Thailand. Bailey, of Kamloops, B.C., was charged with attempted murder and conspiracy in a shooting in Vancouver in 2020.