Police in British Columbia say a suspect known as “Mr. X” who is believed to have helped test a bomb before the 1985 Air India terror attack has died before facing charges.
The statement from the RCMP’s Pacific Region comes as families commemorate the 40th anniversary of the attack, where two bombs targeting Air India flights exploded, including one that killed 329 people, most of them Canadians.
Police said in an email that investigators had “uncovered information related to a suspect they believe was involved in testing an explosive device prior to the Air India terrorist attack on June 23, 1985.”
RCMP are not naming the suspect, saying the evidence was not sufficient to unequivocally confirm the identification of the person who has since died.
On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 departed from Montreal and exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 people on board. It was the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history, but few remember the details.
In a later response, police said investigators “made extensive and deliberate efforts over the last several years to identify the suspect.”
A 2010 commission of inquiry report heard that Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers watched Mr. X among a group of suspects entering a forest on Vancouver Island where the bomb test was heard, a few weeks before the bombs were placed on two planes.
But the officers did not have a camera and the suspect went unidentified for decades, in a failure the report called “the nadir of ineffectiveness of CSIS pre-bombing surveillance.”
Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the Air India Flight 182 bombing that left more than 300 dead — many of them Canadians en route to India. It’s considered as one of the deadliest terror attacks in Canadian history. Ahead of the solemn occasion, Sohrab Sandhu spoke with some local faith groups in B.C., who are calling on the province to build a large memorial and learning centre to honour the memory of the victims.
Only one person was ever convicted of involvement in the attack, bombmaker Inderjit Singh Reyat, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2003 and was later convicted of perjuring himself to protect his co-conspirators.
Two men, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 after a trial that cost almost $60 million.
The trial, a 2005 federal investigation report and the commission of inquiry all concluded the attack was rooted in radical sections of the Sikh community seeking an independent homeland in India, known as Khalistan.
The identification of Mr. X was first reported by Postmedia last week, citing an interview with RCMP Asst. Commissioner David Teboul, who reportedly said the name of the suspect could not be released due to privacy laws.
The bomb on Air India Flight 182 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, killing everyone on board, while a second suitcase bomb exploded before being transferred onto an Air India jet, killing two baggage handlers in Tokyo’s Narita Airport.
Ceremonies marking the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism took place Monday in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and County Cork, Ireland, which is near where Flight 182 went down.
B.C. Premier David Eby said in a statement that the province “must stand against the hate, intolerance and division that fuel terrorism,” and his government was renewing its resolve “to create a safer society for everyone in honour of those we have lost.”
“They were entire families, businesspeople and students with their whole lives ahead of them,” Eby said. “Tragically, they became victims of the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history when a bomb exploded onboard their flight.
“We mourn with the loved ones left behind and condemn such senseless acts of violent extremism.”
Former B.C. legislator Dave S. Hayer said in a statement on Facebook that the 40th anniversary of the attack is a reminder that “terrorism has no place in a civilized world and that it must be stamped out at all costs.”
“Sadly, only one person has been convicted of the bombing that killed 331 civilians, even though known terrorists who were responsible for these bombs were being watched and tape-recorded by Canadian law enforcement agencies before the bombing,” said Hayer, who spoke often in the provincial legislature about the attack during his 12 years in office.
In 2022, acquitted suspect Malik was killed in B.C. by two hitmen who received life sentences. Their motives have never been revealed by police or prosecutors.
Tanner Fox, a hitman hired to kill former Air India bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 20 years Tuesday. Fox and his accomplice Jose Lopez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last October.
