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“Air India warning was ignored”

Toronto: Canadian security agencies did not take the threat to Air India flights seriously before the Kanishka bombing in 1985, a witness testified before the inquiry commission probing the matter.

University of Ottawa professor William Leiss, a risk analysis expert, submitted before the commission, presided over by Justice John Major, that a series of telex messages and tip-offs before the bombing suggesting the targeting of Air India flights should have led to a more dramatic response.

A June 1, 1985 telex sent by Air India’s head office in Bombay to the Toronto Air India outlet “should have set off alarm bells,” Mr. Leiss said.

The telex, revealed at the inquiry last May, said: “Assessment of threat received from intelligence agencies reveal the likelihood of sabotage attempts being undertaken by Sikh extremists by placing time delay devices in the aircraft or registered baggage” of Air India flights.

Mr. Leiss said the RCMP and other Canadian agencies should have considered stopping all Air India flights leaving Canada until the threat was properly assessed.

A bomb made its way onto the Air India Flight 182 when it left Toronto. A second bomb on the same day exploded in a suitcase sent from Vancouver at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, killing two.

“For this business, airline security, it is extremely rare to get such a specific piece of information,” Mr. Leiss said. “That would raise your level of concern to the highest possible level so you would be at that point pulling out all the stops. You might even ground the flights until you had a better handle on — since it was specific to Air India — the credibility source analysis of the information.” —PTI

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“Air India warning was ignored”

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