New Delhi: Four decades after the bombing of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, Canadian authorities have finally identified a suspect who was linked to the terror attack.
However, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) refused to name the suspect, who will never face charges as he is not alive, reported Vancouver Sun.
According to RCMP’s Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, privacy laws prevent them from identifying the person who was with mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar and bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat when they tested an explosive in Vancouver, British Columbia, prior to June 23, 1985 bomb attack and deadly explosion.
Though the investigation into the terror attack by pro-Khalistan extremists is continuing, Teboul conceded there’s “very little realistic chance of seeing this matter go to another trial.”
In what is the worst terror incident in Canadian history, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) failed to prevent the attack and allegedly destroyed evidence. RCMP could secure a single conviction, that of Reyat.
The Kanishka, flying from Montreal to London, exploded at an altitude of 31,000 feet off the coast of Ireland due to a bomb planted in the aircraft.
All 329 people on board the plane — 268 Canadians, 27 Britons and 22 Indian citizens – were killed as the Kanishka disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean.
Canadian law enforcers have still not been able to identify the person who booked the luggage with the incendiary device on that flight and a second Air India flight.
The second bomb resulted in two deaths, of Japanese baggage handlers at Narita Airport, taking the total toll to 331.
Former West Vancouver police chief Kash Heed expressed his disappointment over the latest development in the Kanishka flight investigation.
“This is the disdain I have for how this investigation has unfolded over the last 40 years. It adds to the frustration that the families and communities have gone through,” he remarked.
“Would the treatment have been the same if the skin colour of the victims had been different? Do we still have information under wraps?” Kash asked.