HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 1985 Narita International Airport bombing was the attempted bombing of Air India Flight 301 by
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Sikh terrorists which took place on June 23, 1985, and was part of a transnational aviation bomb plot which also targeted
Air India Flight 182 Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
. A bomb hidden in a suitcase transiting through New Tokyo International Airport exploded at 06:19 23 June 1985 in a baggage handling room, killing two baggage handlers and injuring another four. The bomb exploded prematurely while the plane was still grounded. The attack at Narita was part of an attempted double-bombing orchestrated by the Canadian Sikh terrorist,
Talwinder Singh Parmar Talwinder Singh Parmar (26 February 1944 – 15 October 1992) born in Kapurthala, Punjab, India was a sikh kharku. He was also the founder, leader, and Jathedar of Babbar Khalsa International, better known as Babbar Khalsa, a militant Sikh gro ...
and the Sikh terrorist organization,
Babbar Khalsa Babbar Khalsa International (BKI, pa, ਬੱਬਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, ), better known as Babbar Khalsa, is an organisation whose main objective is to create an independent Sikh country, Khalistan. It operates in Canada, Germany and the United ...
. The bombs were made by
Inderjit Singh Reyat Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
. The suitcase bomb had come from
Vancouver, Canada Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
through
Canadian Pacific The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...
Flight 003 and was transiting through the airport for
Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the ...
Flight 301 to
Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
. The initial plan was for the Air India Flight 301 bomb to explode at the same time as the one that had been planted aboard
Air India Flight 182 Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
. However, Flight 182's bomb exploded over the Atlantic Ocean off the southwest tip of the coast of Ireland, just one hour after 301's bomb, due to the fact that the plan had failed to take into account that Japan did not observe daylight saving time. As a result the bomb at the Narita Airport exploded while 301 was still grounded, earlier than the perpetrators had planned. Had the plan worked the bomb would have exploded inside Air India Flight 301 instead of inside the airport. Extensive analysis by the Japanese investigators identified bomb parts through serial numbers and narrowed the pieces to less than 2000 possible electronic tuners of an older model shipped to
Vancouver, Canada Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
, allowing Canadian police to identify a single person who had bought this older model recently. At the same time in the inquiry to the Air India Flight 182 bombing, investigators had identified that the man checked-in luggage without boarding the plane.
Inderjit Singh Reyat Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
, who lived in
Duncan, British Columbia Duncan (pop. 5,047 in 2021) is a city on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is the smallest city by area (2.07 square kilometres, 0.8 square miles) in Canada. It was incorporated in 1912. Location The city is about 45 kilo ...
, was convicted in Canadian court. He was found guilty in 1991 in the Narita bombing. In 2003, shortly before the start of the Air India trial, he made a plea bargain on reduced charges and a promise of testimony against other suspects. He made the bombs used in both attacks.


Timeline of the incident

On June 22, 1985, the bags of a passenger named L. Singh were checked in at
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
for
Canadian Pacific Airlines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian ...
(CP Air) 003 to New Tokyo International Airport in Narita, Japan, near Tokyo. This bag was interlined to Air India Flight 301 leaving for Don Muang International Airport in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
, Thailand. L. Singh was assigned seat 38H. At 2037 UTC, CP Air Flight 003 (named ''Empress of Australia''), departed Vancouver; no L. Singh was on board. At 0541 UTC (now June 23), CP Air 003 arrived in Tokyo Narita 14 minutes early. At 0619 UTC, a piece of luggage that had come from CP Air 3 exploded as it was being transferred to Air India Flight 301; the explosion killed two Japanese baggage handlers (Hideo Asano and Hideharu Koda) in Narita Airport and injured four other people. At 0714 UTC,
Air India Flight 182 Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
exploded in mid-air off the west coast of Ireland, falling into the sea. All 329 people on board were killed. Investigation by Canada has revealed connections between the two bombings. At 0805 UTC, Air India Flight 301 left Narita and arrived in Thailand unscathed and with no incidents. February 1988 – Inderjit Singh Reyat is arrested by
West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, ...
in
Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
, United Kingdom. December 8, 1989 – The British government agrees to extradite Reyat to Canada, following a lengthy court battle and trial. May 10, 1991 – Inderjit Singh Reyat receives a ten-year sentence after being convicted of two counts of manslaughter terms and four explosives charges relating to the Narita Airport 1985 bombing.


Second bombing

Fifty-five minutes after, at 08:14
Irish time Ireland uses Irish Standard Time (IST, UTC+01:00; ga, Am Caighdeánach Éireannach) in the summer months and Greenwich Mean Time ( UTC+00:00; ''Meán-Am Greenwich'') in the winter period. (Roughly half of the state is in the 7.5°W to 22.5° ...
,
Air India Flight 182 Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
exploded mid-air and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Ireland, killing 329 people. Canadian security forces believe that the incidents were related, as noted in a 2010 report by a government commission. They were supposedly both developed by
Babbar Khalsa Babbar Khalsa International (BKI, pa, ਬੱਬਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, ), better known as Babbar Khalsa, is an organisation whose main objective is to create an independent Sikh country, Khalistan. It operates in Canada, Germany and the United ...
, the
Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
separatist group operating in Canada. Investigators believe the bombings were intended to be simultaneous, but the terrorist planners were not aware that while Canada observes
daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...
, Japan does not.


Trials

The trial for the Narita bombing took place in Canada in 1991. The only man convicted of any involvement in the bombings was
Inderjit Singh Reyat Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
, a British Columbia resident who had built the bombs used. He received a ten-year sentence of two counts of manslaughter and four explosives charges after being found guilty in May 1991 of the Narita bombing in federal court in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. In 2003, weeks before the start of the Air India Flight 182 trial, Reyat made a deal with prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to the charge of manslaughter in the Flight 182 bombing, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He also had to testify against the two other men tried in Canada for these incidents, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri. Justice Ian Josephson acquitted them, as he believed that the prosecutors had not been able to meet the standard of proof "beyond a reasonable doubt." In reading the verdicts of Malik and Bagri, Justice Josephson commented about Reyat's testimony at their trial:
Even the most sympathetic of listeners could only conclude, as do I, that his evidence was patently and pathetically fabricated in an attempt to minimize his involvement in his crime to an extreme degree, while refusing to reveal relevant information he clearly possesses. His hollow expression of remorse for his crime must have been a bitter pill for the families of the victims.
In 2006 Crown Counsel in British Columbia announced they would be charging Reyat with
perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...
, based on his testimony at the Air India Flight 182 trial. It is alleged that he committed perjury 27 times during his testimony. In 2008, the court granted bail; he had already served 20 years in jail since his first arrest. The trial on perjury charges was scheduled for 2009. He was convicted of perjury in 2011 and sentenced to nine years, with 17 months' credit for time already served.


References


External links


Background on Air India bombing
CBC News
Death of Flight 182
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Narita International Airport Bombing Failed airliner bombings 1985 murders in Japan 1985 in India Air India Flight 182 Terrorist attacks on airports Narita International Airport 1985 in Tokyo Terrorist incidents in Tokyo Sikh terrorism June 1985 crimes 1985 murders in Asia Terrorist incidents in Japan in 1985 Building bombings in Japan Canada–Japan relations India–Japan relations Air India accidents and incidents