Suspect in Air Sabotage Case Released

V A N C O U V ER, Canada, Oct. 31 -- — A third suspect taken into custody in connection with history’s worst case of aviation terrorism — the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, which took 329 lives — has been released after being questioned for 24 hours, but sources tell ABCNEWS the man’s legal problems are far from over.

Hardial Singh Johal, believed to be one of the key organizers of the plot,was arrested late Sunday in the Vancouver area by a team of officers fromthe Royal Canadian Mounted Police Air Disaster Task Force investigating theJune 23, 1985, bombing — the deadliest case of aviation sabotage in history.

The bomb, planted in a suitcase boarded in Vancouver the day before the disaster, ripped open the Boeing 747 as it cruised at 31,000 feet southwest of Ireland.

One hour earlier, another bomb that also originated in Vancouver exploded prematurely at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, killing Japanese baggage handlers Hideo Asano and Hideharu Koda.

Sources tell ABCNEWS at least four more suspects will likely be arrested over the next few days as the roundup continues.

“We are still shaking the trees to see what falls out,” a police officer told ABCNEWS as Johal was allowed to return to his east Vancouver home late Monday.

Johal, a Vancouver school janitor and a former president of the Vancouver Sikh Temple, was suspected since 1985 when his former telephone number turned up on the tickets booked for two terrorists who checked in the bags.

Witnesses have told the Royal Canadian Mounted Police they saw Johal, 54, at Vancouver International Airport as the bag for Air India Flight 182 was being checked in.

Police also have wiretap evidence of coded conversationsbetween Johal and terror boss Talwinder Singh Parmar who was killed in 1992 during a shootout with Indian police.

Wave of Arrests

Two others, Ajaib Singh Bagri, a Kamloops, B.C., preacher and Vancouver millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik made their first court appearance on Monday on eight charges including the murders of 329 who perished aboard Air India Flight182. Both Sikh fundamentalists were ordered detained until Nov. 30 without bail.