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Abbotsford man charged with Surrey murder

Randeep Match, 33, was arrested on Wednesday for the killing of Tarsem Dhaliwal in January of this year
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Randeep Match is shown during his 2009 arrest in Abbotsford for cocaine possession.

An Abbotsford man who previously served a prison term for a drug offence has been charged with the January 2014 murder of a Surrey man.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced today that Randeep Singh Match, 33, was arrested in Abbotsford yesterday (Dec. 10) and charged with second-degree murder.

The body of Tarsem (Shane) Singh Dhaliwal, 36, was found Jan. 21 in a vehicle in the 18900 block of 92 Avenue in the Port Kells area of Surrey. It was the city's first homicide of the year.

Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound of IHIT said police cannot at this time discuss the motive for the killing, although she said the victim and the accused knew each other and the attack was targeted.

The cause of death has also not been released by police.

Match and another Abbotsford man, Manindervir Virk, were convicted in November 2011 and  sentenced in September 2012 to five and a half years in prison after being convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The pair were arrested in September 2009 after being spotted by the Air One police helicopter running through a berry field in the area of Mt. Lehman Road and Zero Avenue – along the Canada-U.S. border.

Officers dispatched to the scene discovered four duffel bags filled with 40 bricks of cocaine valued at between $1.4 million and $2 million. Match and Virk were found hiding in some bushes.

Crown counsel at the time pushed for the judge to consider drug importation as an aggravating factor in sentencing, but the judge said there was no evidence to support that.

Information at the sentencing hearing indicated that Match was married with two children and had been a truck driver before becoming a carpet layer.

He was also an active volunteer at the Sikh temple.

Match did not have a criminal record before the drug conviction, although a restraining order was issued against him in January 2009, according to the provincial court database.

(Below: This video shows the 2009 arrest of Randeep Match and Manindervir Virk in Abbotsford.)



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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