Air India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182 was a flight that flew on a Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, Montreal, Quebec - London Heathrow Airport, London - Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi - Sahar International Airport (now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport), Bombay (now Mumbai) route. The flight was bombed on the Montreal to London leg on June 23, 1985 31,000 feet (9500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, South of Ireland, killing all 329 on board.
The bomb brothers
On June 20, 1985, at 0100 GMT, a man calling himself Mr. Singh made reservations for two flights on June 22: one for "Jaswand Singh" to fly from Vancouver, British Columbia to Montreal on Canadian Pacific Airlines (CP) 086, and one for "Mohinderbel Singh" to fly from Vancouver to Tokyo on CP 003, and to there connect with Air India flight 301 to Bangkok.
At 0220 GMT on the same day, another call was made, changing the reservation in the name of "Jaswand Singh" from CP 086 to CP 060 (flying from Vancouver to Toronto, Ontario). The caller also requested to be wait-listed on Air India 181/182 from Toronto to Delhi.
At 1910 GMT, a man paid for the two tickets with $3,005 in cash at a CP ticket office in Vancouver. The names on the reservations were changed; "Jaswand Singh" became "M. Singh" and "Mohinderbel Singh" became "L. Singh".
On June 22, 1985, at 1330 GMT, a man calling himself Manjit Singh called to confirm his reservations on Air India flight 181/182. He was told he was still wait-listed, and was offered alternate arrangements, which he declined.
The Air India 182 bomb
At 1550 GMT on June 22, "Mr. Singh" checked into Vancouver for CP Air Flight 60 to Toronto. He was assigned seat 10B. Singh requested that his suitcase, a dark-brown, hard sided Samsonite suitcase, be transferred to Air India Flight 182 (a Boeing 747-237B, VT-EFO, nicknamed Kanishka). CP Agent Jeannie Adams initially refused his request to inter-line the baggage, since his seat from Toronto to Delhi was unconfirmed, but later relented. [1]
At 1618 GMT, the CP Air flight to Toronto departed without Mr. Singh.
At 2022 GMT, CP Air Flight 60 arrived in Toronto 12 minutes late. Some of the passengers and baggage, including the bag Mr. Singh checked in, were transferred to the Air India flight. Other passengers and baggage from Air Canada Flight 136, which also came from Vancouver, were handled as well.
At 0015 GMT (now June 23), Flight 181 departed Toronto for Montreal Mirabel 1 h 40 min late. The aircraft was late as a "5th pod", a spare engine, was installed below the left wing. The defective engine was being flown to India for repairs. It arrived at Mirabel at 0100 GMT. In Montreal, the Air India flight became Flight 182.
At 0715 GMT, Air India Flight 182, which had departed Mirabel bound for London, disappeared. Air traffic controllers at Shannon International Airport in Shannon, Ireland heard a crackling sound before the plane vanished. The plane was supposed to arrive at 0815 GMT.
A bomb located in the forward cargo hold had exploded while the plane was in mid-flight at 31,000 ft. The bomb caused rapid decompression, and consequent in-flight breakup. The wreckage settled in 2000 m deep water off the south-west Irish coast 180 miles offshore of Cork.
The bombing killed 19 flight crew and 307 passengers, including 82 minors. The bombing was the largest terrorist attack ever committed against Canadian citizens, and 280 of the dead were Canadians. Some of the dead had survived the explosion and the fall but drowned in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Narita Airport Bombing
On June 22, 1985, the bags of a passenger named L. Singh were checked in at Vancouver for Canadian Pacific 003 to New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport) in Narita, Japan, near Tokyo. This bag was interlined to Air India Flight 301 leaving for Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. L. Singh was assigned seat 38H.
At 2037 GMT, Empress of Australia, flying CP Flight 3, departed Vancouver without L. Singh on board.
At 0541 GMT (now June 23), Empress of Australia (CP Air 3) arrived in Tokyo 14 minutes early.
At 0619 GMT, a piece of luggage that that had come from CP Air 3 exploded as it was being transferred to Air India Flight 301; the explosion killed two of the baggage handlers in Narita and injured four other people.
At 0805 GMT, Air India Flight 301 left Narita and arrived in Thailand unscathed.
The Suspects
The main suspects in the bombing were the members of a Sikh terrorist group operating in Canada called the Babbar Khalsa. The Babbar Khalsa was devoted to creating a Sikh state called Khalistan in the Punjab. On November 6th, 1985 the RCMP raid the homes of the suspected Sikh terrorists, Talwinder Singh Parmar, Inderjit Singh Reyat. Surjan Singh Gill, Hardial Singh Johal, and Manmohan Singh.
Talwinder Singh Parmar was a naturalized Canadian citizen living in British Columbia and was wanted for extradition to India for his role in terrorist activities in the Punjab including 30 murders. On March 5th, 1985, 3 months before the bombing, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had obtained permission to tap Parmar’s phone on the basis that he was the leader of the Babbar Khalsa [2]
Inderjit Singh Reyat was living in Duncan, Vancouver Island, British Columbia and working as an auto mechanic and electrician.
Surjan Singh Gill was living in Vancouver as the self-proclaimed consul-general of Khalistan. He later fled Canada and is believed to be in hiding in London, England.
Ripudaman Singh Malik was a Vancouver businessman who owned a credit union and several “Khalsa Schools”
Ajaib Singh Bagri was a mill worker living in Kamloops, British Columbia. He was taped giving a speech to Sikhs at Madison Square Garden on July 1984 in which he tells the crowd "Until we kill 50,000 Hindus we will not rest,"
Hardial Singh Johal and Manmohan Singh were both followers of Parmar and active in the Sikh temples were he preached. On November 15th, 2002 Hardial Singh Johal, died of natural causes at 55. He had allegedly stored the suitcases with bombs in the basement of a Vancouver school but was never charged in the case.
Daljit Sandhu is later named by a Crown witness as the man who picked up the tickets for the bombing.
Timeline Of The Trials
The bombing of Air India Flight 182 and the Narita airport launched several investigations, inquiries and trials. The trial of Malik and Bagri is known as the Air India Trial; a final verdict is expected in March of 2005. Trial events relating to the bombings are listed below in chronological order.
November 8, 1985 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) charge Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat with weapons, explosives and conspiracy offences after a raid on their homes. Reyat is convicted of the weapons offence and receives a fine of two thousand dollars. Due to lack of evidence the charges against Parmar are dropped and no link to Air India is established.
January 22, 1986 - The Canadian Aviation Safety Board determines that a bomb was responsible for bringing down Air India 182.
February 4, 1986 - The Indian Government's Kirpal Commission of Inquiry reaches the same conclusion as the Canadian Aviation Safety Board
February, 1988 - Inderjit Singh Reyat is arrested by British police in Coventry, England.
December 8, 1989 - The British government agrees to extradite Reyat to Canada following a lengthy court battle.
May 10, 1991 - Inderjit Singh Reyat receives a ten year sentence after being convicted of two counts of manslaughter and four explosives charges relating to the Narita Airport bombing.
October 15, 1992 - Talwinder Singh Parmar is killed by Indian Police during a gun battle in Bombay.
October 27, 2000 - Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are arrested by the RCMP. They are charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the people on board Air India Flight 182, the conspiracy to murder, the attempted murder of passengers and crew on the Canadian Pacific flight at Japan's Narita Airport, and charged with two counts of murder of the baggage handlers at the Narita airport.
June 4, 2001 - The British government gives Canada permission to charge Inderjit Singh Reyat in connection with the Air India bombing.
June 6, 2001 - Inderjit Singh Reyat is arrested by the RCMP facing charges of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy in the Air India bombing.
February 10, 2003 - Reyat pleads guilty to one count of manslaughter and a charge of aiding in the construction of a bomb. He was sentenced to five years in jail. As part of his plea bargain all other charges against him were stayed and was not required to provide testimony in the trial of Malik and Bagri.
April 2003 - The trial of Malik and Bagri, which was delayed by pre-trial motions and problems with defense counsel begins.
May 18, 2004 - The crown rests its case in the trial of Malik and Bagri after calling 80 witnesses.
May 31, 2004 - Malik and Bagri's defense begins.
October 19, 2004 - Closing arguments begin.
December 4th, 2004 - The judge presiding over the Air India Trial, Justice Ian Josephson says the verdict will be delivered March 16th 2005.
What Did The Canadian Government Know?
There are allegations that CSIS interfered in the investigation by destroying hundreds of wiretaps of to protect the identity of their mole in the terrorist group.
Of the 210 wiretaps that were recorded during the months before and after the bombing 156 were erased. These tapes continued to be erased even after the terrorists had become the primary suspects in the bombing.
CSIS claims the wiretaps contained no relevant information but a memo from the RCMP states that
"There is a strong likelihood that had CSIS retained the tapes between March and August, 1985, that a successful prosecution of at least some of principals in both bombings could have been undertaken." [3]
The Canadian government had been warned by the Indian government about the possibility of terrorist bombs aboard Air India flights in Canada. And over two weeks before the crash CSIS reported to the RCMP that the potential threat to Air India as well as Indian missions in Canada, was high.[4]
CSIS agents had also followed Talwinder Parmar and Inderjit Reyat to woods near Duncan, British Columbia and reported to the RCMP that they had heard a noise like a "loud gunshot" in the woods. After the bombing the RCMP went to the site and found remains of an electrical blasting cap. [5]
The suspects in the bombing were apparently aware of their surveillance, using pay phones and talking in code on the phone. Translator's notes of the wiretaps records this exchange between Talwinder Parmar and a follower named Hardial Singh Johal on the same day the tickets were purchased. [6]
Parmar: Did he write the story?
Johal: No he didn't.
Parmar: Do that work first.
After this call a man called the CP Air and booked the tickets and left Johal's number. Shortly afterwards, Johal called Parmar and asked him if he "can come over and read the story he asked for". Parmar said he will be there shortly.
This conversation would appear to be an order from Parmar to book the tickets used to bomb the planes, however because The original wiretaps were erased by CSIS and are useless as evidence in court.
To this day the Canadian government continues to insist there was no mole involved.