The Dhak-Duhre Group: A Gang War Fueled by Assassinations
- staysafevancouver
- Feb 28
- 5 min read
On October 16, 2010, Gurmit Singh Dhak, a prominent gangster in BC, was seated in his black BMW SUV in the parking lot of Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby when gunfire erupted.
An unidentified assailant approached his vehicle and fired, striking Dhak and killing him instantly. Dhak was shot in the face, which is often the mark of a professional hit.
Cpl. Dale Carr of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Dhak was alone in the black BMW, though others told The Vancouver Sun that his wife and kids were nearby.
This wasn’t just another gangland killing—it was a declaration of war.
Gurmit had long been a key player in the region’s drug trade, but unlike many others in his position, he wasn’t known for reckless violence.
He was a businessman first, preferring to make money over making enemies. But that didn’t matter. His murder, believed to be orchestrated by the Wolfpack Alliance—a coalition of the Red Scorpions, Independent Soldiers, and Hells Angels—was a calculated move to shift the balance of power in Vancouver’s underworld.
The Dhak-Duhre Group, with which Gurmit was associated, did not take his murder lightly.
Within days, plans for revenge were already underway, igniting one of the bloodiest gang wars BC had ever seen.
Quick Overview Of The Dhak-Duhre Group:
A Gangland Execution with Consequences – The assassination of Gurmit Dhak in 2010 was the catalyst for a brutal gang war that would see Vancouver’s streets become a war zone.
The Wolfpack’s Power Play – The Hells Angels, Red Scorpions, and Independent Soldiers made a calculated move to take out one of the most powerful gangsters in BC, believing it would weaken the Dhak-Duhre Group.
The Start of a Retaliation Cycle – Gurmit’s murder set off a chain of revenge killings, including Sandip Duhre’s assassination in 2012 at the Sheraton Wall Centre in Vancouver, and a relentless hunt for key Wolfpack figures.
Brazen Public Shootings – The war saw hits carried out in crowded public spaces, including shopping malls, restaurants, and hotels, endangering civilians and exposing the brutal reality of BC’s gang conflicts.
The Retaliation: A Blood Debt Paid in Full
The murder of Gurmit Singh Dhak was not something the Dhak-Duhre Group was going to let slide. Almost immediately, whispers of revenge began circulating in Vancouver’s underworld.
The Wolfpack Alliance may have struck the first blow, but the Dhak-Duhre faction had plenty of resources and a burning vendetta.
The Kelowna Ambush: A Message Sent in Blood
On August 14, 2011, a white Porsche Cayenne pulled out of the Delta Grand Hotel in Kelowna.
Inside were members of the Wolfpack Alliance, including Jonathan Bacon (the eldest of three brothers linked to the Red Scorpions gang), Hells Angel Larry Amero, Independent Soldier James Riach, and two women. You can read about the Bacon Brothers here.
Later when their SUV exited the parking lot, masked gunmen opened fire with assault rifles. The bullets tore through the car, killing Jonathan Bacon instantly and critically wounding Larry Amero.
Those bullets fatally sliced through Bacon, left Amero without the use of an arm and paralyzed a 21-year-old female passenger, Leah Hadden-Watts. Riach escaped without injury and another passenger Lyndsey Black has healed from wounds to her legs.
This was a message, loud and clear.
The Dhak-Duhre Group had struck back, and they weren’t finished.
Three men accused of the killing: Jason McBride, Michael Jones and Jujhar Khun-Khun were arrested in 2013.
The Wolfpack’s Counterattack: The Death of Sandip Duhre
If the Kelowna shooting was meant to scare the Wolfpack, it had the opposite effect.
On January 17, 2012, in the busy lobby of Vancouver’s Sheraton Wall Centre, Sandip "Dip" Duhre sat down for a meal at Café One. He was known to be careful, paranoid even, and for good reason.
A lone gunman walked into the restaurant, approached Duhre, and shot him multiple times in the head at point-blank range. He died instantly.
This wasn’t just a murder—it was an execution in broad daylight, meant to send a message that no one in the Dhak-Duhre camp was untouchable.
The orchestrator of this murder was Rabih "Robby" Alkhalil, who was convicted in absentia for first-degree murder in December 2023. Alkhalil had previously escaped from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in July 2022 and remains at large after escaping prison.
The Final Blow: Sukh Dhak’s Assassination
After Gurmit’s murder, his younger brother Sukh Dhak had stepped up, determined to keep the war going. But with so many key players already dead, he was running out of time.
On November 26, 2012, just months after Duhre’s murder, Sukh Dhak and his bodyguard, Thomas Mantel, were gunned down in the lobby of the Executive Hotel in Burnaby.
The Dhak-Duhre Group had been dismantled, one body at a time.
The deaths of Gurmit, Sandip, and Sukh marked the fall of the Dhak-Duhre Group, but in Vancouver’s underworld, there’s always another group waiting to take the throne. The war didn’t end—it just evolved into something even deadlier.
The New Era of Gang Warfare: Lessons Unlearned
The Brothers Keepers vs. The Red Scorpions
By 2018, the Brothers Keepers, a South Asian-led gang with former Dhak-Duhre ties, had risen to prominence. Their biggest enemy? The Red Scorpions, who had once been part of the Wolfpack Alliance but were now splintered into warring factions.
In 2021, the war reached its peak when Meninder Dhaliwal, a top Brothers Keepers member, was executed in broad daylight at a Whistler resort, marking one of the most brazen gangland hits in recent history.
The Kang Group: A New Power Rises
While the Brothers Keepers and Red Scorpions tore each other apart, another faction was watching from the sidelines, waiting for its moment—The Kang Group.
The Kang Group is a faction of the Brothers Keepers gang.
Led by Barinder "Shrek" Dhaliwal, the Kang Group operated differently:
They weren’t interested in flashy violence—they were strategic.
They recruited young gangsters before rival groups could get to them.
They built a direct alliance with the Hells Angels, securing protection and resources.
By 2022, the Kang Group controlled a majority of the drug trade in the Lower Mainland, filling the power vacuum left behind by the war between the Brothers Keepers and Red Scorpions.
The Next Generation: No Honor, No Rules
What made the new era of gangsters different from their predecessors?
A complete lack of structure.
The old-school leaders—Gurmit Dhak, Sandip Duhre, and even the Bacon Brothers—had operated under a set of underworld rules:
Violence was a tool, not a pastime.
Hits were planned, not livestreamed.
Civilians were (usually) off-limits.
That code of conduct no longer exists.
By 2023, gang violence in British Columbia had become reckless, public, and chaotic, with younger gangsters treating social media as a battleground, taunting rivals before and after executions.
A Cycle That Never Ends
Despite decades of arrests, gang takedowns, and federal crackdowns, Vancouver’s underworld hasn’t changed—it has only evolved.
The Dhak-Duhre Group may be long gone, but the war they were part of never truly ended. It simply morphed into something even deadlier, fueled by younger, more ruthless players who learned nothing from the past.
In BC, gangs don’t disappear—they just get replaced.
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