1985 Narita International Airport bombing

(Redirected from Air India Flight 301) 1985 airport bombing in Japan, Canadian terrorist attack

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1985 Narita International Airport bombing
Narita International Airport, Terminal 1. The main site where the bombings happened.
Location	Narita International Airport, Greater Tokyo Area, Narita, Chiba, Japan
Date	June 23, 1985 15:19 JST (UTC+9)
Target	Air India Flight 301
Weapons	Bombs
Deaths	2
Injured	4
Victims	Baggage handlers killed
Perpetrators	Inderjit Singh Reyat
Motive	Khalistani terrorism

The 1985 Narita International Airport bombing was the attempted terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 301, which took place on June 23, 1985. A bomb hidden in a suitcase transiting through Narita International Airport, then known as New Tokyo International Airport, exploded at 06:19 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 Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Canadian national, and the Khalistani terrorist organization, Babbar Khalsa. The bombs were made by Inderjit Singh Reyat.

The suitcase bomb had come from Vancouver, Canada through Canadian Pacific Flight 003 and was transiting through the airport for Air India Flight 301 to Bangkok, Thailand before continuing on to Delhi, India.

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. 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, 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, who lived in Duncan, British Columbia, 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 for Canadian Pacific Airlines (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, Thailand. L. Singh was assigned seat 38H.

At 20:37 UTC, CP Air Flight 003 (named Empress of Australia), departed Vancouver; no L. Singh was on board.

At 05:41 UTC (now June 23), CP Air 003 arrived in Tokyo Narita 14 minutes early.

At 06:19 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 07:14 UTC, Air India Flight 182 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 08:05 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 in Coventry, 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

Main article: Air India Flight 182

Fifty-five minutes after, at 08:14 Irish time, Air India Flight 182 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, the Sikh 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, 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, 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, British Columbia.

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, 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

Dutel, Heinz (November 3, 2014). Global Secret and Intelligence Services I: Hidden Systems that deliver Unforgettable Customer Service. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 490. ISBN 9783738607710.
CBC staff (July 9, 2008). "Convicted Air India bomb-builder Inderjit Singh Reyat gets bail". CBC News. Archived from the original on July 10, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
"Air India bomber gets 9 years for perjury". CBC News. January 7, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2013.

External links

Background on Air India bombing, CBC News
Death of Flight 182, website

v t e Bombing of Air India Flight 182
Perpetrators	Babbar Khalsa militants Ripudaman Singh Malik Ajaib Singh Bagri Inderjit Singh Reyat Manmohan Singh Daljit Sandhu Talwinder Singh Parmar Surjan Singh Gill Hardial Singh Johal
Victims	Inder Thakur Yelavarthy Nayudamma
CSIS agents and informants involved	Ted Finn James S. Warren Mel Deschenes Santokh Bagga
Inquiry and trial judges	Ian Josephson John C. Major Patrick Dohm
Works	Air India 182 Children of Air India The Sorrow and the Terror Desperately Seeking Helen
Related topics	Failed bombing of Air India Flight 301 Kim Bolan Eisha Marjara Lata Pada Renée Sarojini Saklikar Timeline

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1985 (1985)
Jan 1 Eastern Air Lines Flight 980Jan 18 CAAC Flight 5109Jan 21 Galaxy Airlines Flight 203Feb 1 Aeroflot Flight 7841Feb 19 China Airlines Flight 006Feb 19 Iberia Flight 610Feb 24 Polar 3May 3 Zolochiv mid-air collisionJun 14 Trans World Airlines Flight 847Jun 21 Braathens SAFE Flight 139Jun 23 Air India Flight 182Jul 10 Aeroflot Flight 5143Aug 2 Delta Air Lines Flight 191Aug 12 Japan Air Lines Flight 123Aug 22 Manchester Airport disasterAug 25 Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808Sep 4 Bakhtar Antonov An-26 shootdownSep 6 Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105Sep 23 Henson Airlines Flight 1517Nov 10 Teterboro mid-air collisionNov 23 EgyptAir Flight 648Nov 25 Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crashDec 12 Arrow Air Flight 1285RDec 19 Aeroflot Flight 101/435Dec 31 Ricky Nelson plane crash
1984 ◄ ► 1986

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1985 (1985)

Jan 1 Eastern Air Lines Flight 980Jan 18 CAAC Flight 5109Jan 21 Galaxy Airlines Flight 203Feb 1 Aeroflot Flight 7841Feb 19 China Airlines Flight 006Feb 19 Iberia Flight 610Feb 24 Polar 3May 3 Zolochiv mid-air collisionJun 14 Trans World Airlines Flight 847Jun 21 Braathens SAFE Flight 139Jun 23 Air India Flight 182Jul 10 Aeroflot Flight 5143Aug 2 Delta Air Lines Flight 191Aug 12 Japan Air Lines Flight 123Aug 22 Manchester Airport disasterAug 25 Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808Sep 4 Bakhtar Antonov An-26 shootdownSep 6 Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105Sep 23 Henson Airlines Flight 1517Nov 10 Teterboro mid-air collisionNov 23 EgyptAir Flight 648Nov 25 Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crashDec 12 Arrow Air Flight 1285RDec 19 Aeroflot Flight 101/435Dec 31 Ricky Nelson plane crash

1984 ◄ ► 1986

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Japan
1950s	Japan Air Lines Flight 301 (April 1952) Tachikawa air disaster (June 1953) Okinawa F-100 crash (June 1959)
1960s	Machida F-8 crash (April 1964) All Nippon Airways Flight 60 (February 1966) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 402 (March 1966) BOAC Flight 911 (March 1966) All Nippon Airways Flight 533 (November 1966)
1970s	Japan Air Lines Flight 351 (March 1970) Flying Tiger Line Flight 45 (July 1970)* Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63 (July 1971) All Nippon Airways Flight 58 (July 1971) Yokohama F-4 crash (September 1977) Japan Air Lines Flight 115 (June 1978)
1980s	Japan Air Lines Flight 350 (February 1982) Southwest Air Lines Flight 611 (August 1982) Narita International Airport bombing (June 1985) Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (August 1985) template Thai Airways International Flight 620 (October 1986)
1990s	Japan Air System Flight 451 (April 1993) China Airlines Flight 140 (April 1994) Philippine Airlines Flight 434 (December 1994) All Nippon Airways Flight 857 (June 1995) Garuda Indonesia Flight 865 (June 1996) All Nippon Airways Flight 61 (July 1999)
2000s	2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident (January 2001) China Airlines Flight 120 (August 2007) FedEx Express Flight 80 (March 2009)
2010s	Asiana Airlines Flight 162 (April 2015) Korean Air Flight 2708 (May 2016)
2020s	Miyakojima helicopter crash (April 2023) Haneda Airport runway collision (January 2024)
"*" occurred in the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands

Air India

Parent

Services

Operational	Air India fleet destinations Air India Express fleet destinations Air India One
Defunct	Air India Cargo AIX Connect Indian Airlines
Former	Alliance Air

Accidents and
incidents

Air India	Korangi Creek (1947) Flight 245 (1950) Flight 300 (1955) Flight 101 (1966) Flight 855 (1978) Flight 232 (1981) Flight 403 (1982) Flight 182 (1985) Flight 301 (1985) Flight 112 (1986)
Air India Express	Flight 812 (2010) Flight 611 (2018) Flight 1344 (2020)
Alliance Air	Flight 7412 (2000)
Indian Airlines	Hijacking (1971) Flight 440 (1973) Flight 171 (1976) Flight 410 (1978) Flight 423 (1981) Flight 405 (1984) Flight 421 (1984) Flight 113 (1988) Flight 605 (1990) Flight 257 (1991) Flight 427 (1993) Flight 491 (1993) Flight 503 (1998) Flight 814 (1999)

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