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Kanishka case: Unnamed witness says Malik asked him to carry suitcase
Vancouver, Oct 17: The much-delayed Air India trial has resumed with an unnamed witness testifying that one of the chief accused in the Kanishka bombing case had asked him to carry a suitcase on a flight to India.
Vancouver, Oct 17: The much-delayed Air India
trial has resumed with an unnamed witness testifying that one
of the chief accused in the Kanishka bombing case had asked
him to carry a suitcase on a flight to India.
This is the first testimony in the murder trial, which
began on April 28 and subsequently stalled since September 22,
which allegedly links Vancouver-based businessman Malik to
terrorist activities.
The man testified that Malik had tried unsuccessfully to have him take a suitcase to India several weeks before the Air India flight crashed off the Irish coast on June 23, 1985 killing all 329 on board after he approached him for a loan.
He told the court that Malik told him that he was sending the suitcase to India to "teach a lesson to the Indian government" and that he was assured that he would be considered a "martyr" if anything happened to him following the visit, media reports said.
Malik agreed to provide USD 40,000 as loan in return for taking the suitcase to India. "If I did his work, then he would do mine," the witness told the court through a Punjabi interpreter, adding he did not ask Malik what was to be in the suitcase.
In the end, the witness who is one of the eight protected witnesses who cannot be named, said he received financial aid from his family and didn't need Malik's money.
Bureau Report
The man testified that Malik had tried unsuccessfully to have him take a suitcase to India several weeks before the Air India flight crashed off the Irish coast on June 23, 1985 killing all 329 on board after he approached him for a loan.
He told the court that Malik told him that he was sending the suitcase to India to "teach a lesson to the Indian government" and that he was assured that he would be considered a "martyr" if anything happened to him following the visit, media reports said.
Malik agreed to provide USD 40,000 as loan in return for taking the suitcase to India. "If I did his work, then he would do mine," the witness told the court through a Punjabi interpreter, adding he did not ask Malik what was to be in the suitcase.
In the end, the witness who is one of the eight protected witnesses who cannot be named, said he received financial aid from his family and didn't need Malik's money.
Bureau Report