A man with a violent criminal history who escaped from a B.C. jail three years ago has been arrested in Qatar, according to RCMP.
Rabih Alkhalil was taken into custody in Qatar this month while living under an alias, Cpl. Sarbjit Sangha with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. confirmed in a news release Thursday. Police did not provide the exact date of the arrest.
The 38-year-old has an extensive criminal record and was convicted in a 2012 Toronto murder, as well as a murder in Vancouver that same year, and was a member of Canada’s most wanted list after the escape.
Alkhalil, originally from Montreal, was being held in the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C., on murder charges when he escaped on July 21, 2022.
According to RCMP, the three-year international search for Alkhalil involved the RCMP’s Federal Policing Pacific Region, and Qatar’s Ministry of Interior. Sangha said Qatari authorities played a “critical” role, providing swift and decisive action that led to the arrest.
3 men charged for allegedly helping B.C. fugitive escape jail
Authorities say work is now underway with Interpol and other agencies to have Alkhalil returned to Canada.
In July 2022, two men posing as contractors driving a white Econoline van helped Alkhalil break out of the pretrial centre while he was awaiting a murder trial.
Later that same year, the Bolo Program — which stands for “be on the lookout” — moved Alkhalil to the top of its list of 25 most-wanted fugitives in Canada.
In a news conference earlier this month, RCMP had said that video footage released from the prison break helped officers identify the men who allegedly aided Alkhalil’s escape.
Edward Ayoub, 48, and John Potvin, 49 — both originally from Ottawa — and Ryan van Gool, 46, from Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., have been charged with conspiracy to commit prison breach and prison breach.
Earlier this year, Potvin was arrested in Spain, according to B.C.’s anti-gang police unit.
Max Langlois, executive director of the Bolo Program, called Alkhalil’s arrest “the end of one of the most complex fugitive investigations Bolo has seen since its creation.”
