Canada had warnings before 1985 Air India bombing

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Canada had warnings before 1985 Air India bombing
Tue May 1, 2007 2:32 AM IST

By Allan Dowd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada was warned
of a plot to bomb an Air India jetliner months before the 1985
attack that killed 329 people, but police failed to act on the
information, a hearing was told on Monday.

A witness told a government inquiry in Ottawa that police did
not believe his 1984 warning that Sikh separatists in Vancouver
were planning airline attacks and wanted to assassinate Indian
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The June 23, 1985, bombing of Air India Flight 182 over the
Atlantic Ocean was history's deadliest bombing of a civilian
airliner. Gandhi was killed in October 1984 by her Sikh
bodyguards.

"I knew they were serious," said the witness who admitted to
having a criminal history, but said he approached police to
save lives after being offered C$200,000 by the plotters to
help them get a bomb on an aircraft.

-snip-

Read more: http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-05-01T022216Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-296252-1.xml

---

Source: CanWest News Service

Prior knowledge

Police learned of Air India plot months before bombing, inquiry hears

Kim Bolan, CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, April 30, 2007

OTTAWA — A B.C. man facing unrelated criminal charges talked to
Vancouver police in October 1984 about a plot to blow up two Air
India planes, the inquiry investigating the 1985 terrorism plot
was told Monday.

Harmail Singh Grewal was trying to make a deal to get bail in a
series of liquor store robberies when he was interviewed by Rick
Crook, then a constable with the Vancouver police department.

Grewal's identity was not disclosed to the inquiry, but the
Vancouver Sun first reported it in 1987 in connection with his
tip to police about the bombing.

The Air India inquiry resumed in Ottawa Monday morning and the
testimony over the coming weeks is expected to focus on what
government and police agencies knew about threats to the two
planes.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=a558d7f7-17cc-4872-b9e8-5563e4371e01&k=52212

[daleo]

1. Warnings of a terrorist plot ignored?

And it even involves planes...

[Canuckistanian]

2. This whole investigation was fucked up from the beginning

NOTHING was done about it for more than 10 years. Witnesses died or were killed. Or paralyzed.

The RCMP looked like idiots. Only the insistence of Parliament got the investigation going again.

About 3 years ago.

[daleo]

3. CBC website now has two stories on this

You're right, the whole thing looks very bad.