Canadian authorities have launched an international manhunt for a third suspect in the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight and will seek help from Pakistan, where the suspect is believed to have fled, according to Vancouver`s The Province newspaper. The paper also said yesterday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police(RCMP) were preparing to charge several others in the next few days in connection with the bombing which killed 329 people, the majority of them Canadian.
Two Sikh men -- Ripudaman Singh Malik, 53, and Ajaib Singh Bagri, 51 -- were arrested Friday and charged on eight counts including first-degree murder in the June 23, 1985 explosion of Air India`s flight 182 off the coast of Ireland and a Tokyo airport explosion the same day. RCMP Air India task force spokeswoman Cate Galliford would not confirm the report yesterday saying: “We are not going to be disclosing where we are looking for the other suspects.”
She also refused to comment on whether the RCMP had contacted Pakistani officials.
However, Galliford reiterated an earlier statement, saying, “We anticipate more arrests.” The newspaper said the third suspect`s disappearance from his Burnaby, British Columbia home prompted the RCMP to first delay arresting two other bombing suspects, hoping he would return.
Bureau Report