A Surrey truck driver who fled to India two years ago to dodge sentencing for smuggling cocaine across the Canadian border is among Crime Stoppers' 'least-wanted trick-or-treaters."
Raj Kumar Mehmi is one of five fugitives named in a news release issued Tuesday (Oct. 29) appealing to the public to be on the lookout.
The five – Mehmi, Duc Quan Phung, Kevin Asi Gonzales, Andrew Joseph Smid and Rabih Alkhalil – all face serious charges, the release notes.
In the case of Alkhalil, Crime Stoppers has partnered with the national BOLO (Be On the Look Out) Program to offer a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to his capture.
Alkhalil, the release states, escaped from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam more than two years ago with help from two men posing as contractors. He is wanted for murder, conspiracy to commit murder and being unlawfully at large.
Mehmi, meanwhile, was sentenced in absentia in November 2023 to 15 years in prison for smuggling 80 kilograms of cocaine – valued at the time at an estimated $3.2 million – into B.C. through the Pacific Highway border in South Surrey. He was arrested in November 2017, and boarded a flight to India one month after being found guilty of importation of a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
As with Mehmi, Phung and Gonzales are wanted for drug-related offences, it continues, while Smid faces "a raft of charges" involving stolen property, fraud, identity theft and more.
"Halloween is a good time to keep an eye out for 'scary' characters like these," Linda Annis, executive director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers, said in the release.
"A single anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers with the right information could help police get any of these five off the streets.
"We ask anyone seeing something suspicious not to think twice."
Crime Stoppers offers rewards of up to $5,000 for tips that lead to the arrest and charge of a wanted criminal.
Alkhalil is described as 37 years old, five-feet-10 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. Mehmi is 61 years old, six feet tall and 200 lbs; Gonzales, 34, has black hair and brown eyes, stands five-feet-five inches tall and weighs 165 lbs. Phung, 37 is five-foot-nine and weighs 143 lbs; and Smid – facing 23 charges in all – is 36 years old, with blue eyes and brown hair (with possible blond highlights). He's five-foot-nine and weighs 165 lbs.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is cautioned not to approach the men. Contact your local police directly. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or solvecrime.ca
