Gangster Sandip Duhre shot to death at downtown Vancouver restaurant

Long-time gangster Sandip (Dip) Duhre was gunned down execution-style by someone he was meeting at the Wall Centre Tuesday night.

Duhre, 36, a one-time associate of the late Bindy Johal, has been targeted for years as he rose up through the ranks of mid-level gangs in Metro Vancouver.

A one-time ally of Abbotsford’s Bacon brothers, Duhre later turned against the trio of siblings police believe he took under his wing when they began their criminal life.

Duhre and his two brothers, Balraj and Paul grew up in North Vancouver and were close to several Persian gang members as teens. He later moved to Surrey.

Both he and his older brother Balraj have been shot at before.

In recent months, the Duhre group, aligned with some members of the United Nations gang and Dhak group, have been locked in a deadly gang war with a loose alliance of the Red Scorpions, Independent Soldiers and some Hells Angels.

Sources say Duhre was meeting with two others in the Bar One restaurant at the posh hotel. When one man went to the washroom, the other man opened fire on Duhre, striking him several times in the face.

Vancouver Police Const. Lindsey Houghton said the shooting took place about 8:45 p.m. Police have not released the name of the victim and were claiming last night it was too early to say the case was gang-related.

Duhre’s brother Balraj was shot in a East Hasting Pho restaurant in August 2005, but survived. Sandip escaped injury when his car was sprayed with gunfire at a Surrey convenience store in May 2005, but his friend Dean Mohamed Elshamy was killed. And both Balraj and Sandip were shot at in July 2005 as they drove through East Vancouver. Their bulletproof car saved their lives.

In 1997, Duhre faced conspiracy to obstruct justice charges with his brothers, Johal, the Buttar brothers and several others. But the case later fell apart.

At the time of his death Tuesday, Duhre was on bail for flight from police and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

He had firearms convictions that landed him in jail in 2005. He was also a suspect in at least one murder at the time of his death.

Last summer, gangster Aleksandar Radjenovic was handed an 18-year sentence for conspiring to kill Duhre and two others. Court records said Radjenovic had been hired by the Red Scorpion gang.