Man wanted in Toronto gang murder last summer now charged in hit on Vancouver gangster in busy downtown restaurant

Even in a city becoming inured to public gang violence, the execution of Sandip Duhre in the busy restaurant of a posh downtown Vancouver hotel last year was shocking.

Now police have confirmed the man they believe was a key player in the hit is under arrest in Greece and awaiting extradition.

Vancouver police announced Wednesday that Rabih (Robby) Alkhalil, 25, will face a first-degree murder charge for what they termed a "contract killing" once he's returned to Canada.

The only question is where he'll be tried first, since Alkhalil is also facing murder charges in another gang hit in Toronto last summer.

Duhre, who was part of a rival drug gang, was shot several times as he was eating at the Sheraton Wall Centre's lobby restaurant in January 2012. The murder was witnessed by dozens of patrons and members of Cuba's women's national soccer team who were staying at the hotel.

"We believe this was a well-planned public execution involving a coordinated and deliberate effort to carry out the murder," Supt. Mike Porteous said in a statement. "We also believe it was a contract killing related to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict."

Alkhalil's name surfaced about a month ago in relation to the Duhre murder, along with another suspect, Dean Wiwchar, who police sources said was spotted on video surveillance near the Wall Centre the night of the killing, according to Vancouver Sun crime writer Kim Bolan.

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Bolan wrote that Alkhalil was a close friend of B.C. Hells Angel Larry Amero, who was wounded in the August 2011 attack on an SUV outside a Kelowna, B.C., resort hotel that killed notorious Metro Vancouver gangster Jonathan Bacon.

Police warned of retaliation after that hit and since then a dozen members of the gang led by Duhre and Sukh Dhak have been killed, including Duhre and Dhak, Bolan reported last month.

Bolan reported Wednesday that Alkhalil fled to Greece after police executed a Vancouver-issued search warrant at the home he shared with Amero in Montreal.

Porteous said the investigation is continuing and further arrests were expected.

“We believe he was working in concert with other suspects who were present and actively involved in the murder," he said.

It could take months for Alkhalil to be extradited from Greece, Porteous said. And he may not come to trial for a long time in the Duhre murder if Toronto claims him first.

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Alkhalil was actually arrested last month on an international warrant related to the gang-related killing last June of Johnnie Raposo as he and a friend watched a televised soccer match on the patio of Toronto's Sicilian Ice Cream Shop.

Wiwchar, 26, was arrested soon after that hit and charged with first-degree murder, according to the Toronto Sun. Nicola Nero, who was already in custody on drug charges, was also charged in Raposo's death, along with crony Martino Caputo, who was captured in Germany in February, the Sun said.

Alkhalil was born in Saudi Arabia but came to Canada as a child with his parents and siblings on a refugee claim, the Vancouver Sun's Bolan wrote.

His two older brothers, Khalil and Mamoud, both died in gang-related murders in 2001 and 2003 respectively and the family moved to Ottawa. A third brother, Nabil, was ordered deported after an Ontario cocaine-trafficking conviction but remains in Canada because he was deemed to be stateless, Bolan wrote.