One of the men charged in connection with the 2022 B.C. prison escape of Rabih Alkhalil has been returned to Canada.
John Potvin was extradited from Spain and is now in custody in B.C., the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. said in a Friday (Jan. 23) news release.
The special enforcement unit, with the help of the RCMP, took custody of Potvin on Thursday from Spanish authorities. He is scheduled to appear at the Vancouver Law Courts on Friday.
Potvin, 49, was arrested in Spain in late summer 2025, wanted on a Canada-wide warrant and an Interpol Red Notice, which is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person. Police obtained the Red Notice after learning that he may have fled the country.
Potvin is one of three men charged in the multi-year investigation into the Port Coquitlam prison break of convicted murderer Rabih Alkhalil, who was arrested in Qatar in September 2025 while using an alias.
Alkhalil escaped from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam on July 21, 2022, aided by two men posing as contractors. Alkhalil was awaiting trial for the 2012 murder of 36-year-old Sandip Duhre.
The trial continued, and Alkhalil was convicted for Duhre’s murder while on the run, adding to a previous murder sentence originating from Toronto and a drug trafficking conviction originating from Quebec.
On Sept. 8, 2025, the RCMP announced Potvin was charged with prison breach and conspiracy alongside Ryan Van Gool of Harrison Hot Springs and Edward Ayoub of Ottawa.
Ayoub was in custody on another matter in another province at the time. Van Gool was arrested on Sept. 5, and Potvin on Sept. 19 in Spain.