SURREY — RCMP say charges have been laid against three men who allegedly helped convicted double murderer Rabih Alkhalil escape a British Columbia pretrial centre in 2022.

But police say they can’t confirm media reports that fugitive Alkhalil has been arrested in the Middle East.

Sgt. Tammy Lobb has told a briefing that Edward Ayoub and John Potvin, both of Ottawa, and Ryan Van Gool of Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., have been charged with prison breach and conspiracy over the breakout from North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C., in July 2022.

Alkhalil escaped while on trial for the 2012 shooting murder of a gang rival in a busy Vancouver restaurant, and he was later found guilty of first-degree murder in his absence.

He had previously been convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder in Ontario for killing a man in a Toronto coffee shop.

Lobb says at a Surrey, B.C., briefing that during the investigation into the breakout, police also uncovered evidence that has led to charges that Van Gool and two other men, Bryce and Scott Telford of Surrey, were involved in a 2024 murder conspiracy.

She says the planned killing in Kamloops, B.C., was averted.

Lobb says all six are in custody except Potvin who is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant.

She says she can’t confirm reports that Alkhalil has been arrested in Qatar and the information in media reports over the weekend “has not been confirmed through the police agencies at this time.”

Alkhalil is among Canada’s most wanted fugitives and is also the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2025.