Who was Sukh Dhak?

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BURNABY (NEWS1130) – One of the two men gunned down at a hotel in Burnaby yesterday had a long list of enemies. News1130 has learned Sukh Dhak was one of the victims.

Last year, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit warned anyone who came into contact with Dhak and his associates that they could be at risk.

The CFSEU issued the warning about a month after well-known gangster Jonathan Bacon was shot dead outside a hotel and casino in Kelowna in August, 2011.

“It seems like it’s been a one-sided war and the Dhak group is the one where all of their members are dying in the gangland slayings,” says Ranj Dhaliwal, a local author who writes about gangs.

“When we see a shooting like this, I wouldn’t think [there would be] immediate retaliation in regards to Sukh Dhak’s group going after whoever attacked Sukh Dhak. It would be more of an internal thing because he was at the top of his group and now someone else needs to fill that void.”

Dhak and another man were killed when several shots were fired at the Executive Hotel around 11:30 yesterday morning.

The other victim was Dhak’s bodyguard, 30-year-old Thomas Mantel.

“This callous shooting occurred in a very public location, which could have injured or taken the lives of many innocent people,” says Sergeant Jennifer Pound with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

“The loss of two young lives is a terrible tragedy which will scar the lives of their families and friends forever. Life should not be so easily thrown away,” she adds.

Dhak was accused of running a drug lab and the case was being heard by the BC Supreme Court. His older brother, Gurmit, was also the victim of a targeted shooting. Gurmit Dhak was killed at Metrotown in October, 2010.
    
“It was pretty much inevitable that someone was going to gun for Sukh Dhak as well,” says Dhaliwal.

No arrests have been made in either case.

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