Third arrest in Canadian probe of Air India bombing

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) -- A third suspect has been arrested in connection with the 1985 bombing of an Air India jet that killed 329 people in the world's deadliest act of civilian aviation sabotage, Canadian police said.

The suspect, who was not immediately identified, was arrested in the Vancouver area late on Sunday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in a brief written statement.

The arrest came on the eve of court appearances in Vancouver on Monday by Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik, who are charged with murder in the case.

The RCMP said more arrests were expected and investigators, who worked for 15 years before laying charges, have received a number of new tips since Malik and Bagri were arrested on Friday.

Some of the people now providing police with information told police they had previously been too nervous to talk, said RCMP spokeswoman Cati Galliford.

"They advised us that when you have arrested people and laid charges that's when we'll come to you with information," Galliford said.

Police declined to comment on a newspaper report on Sunday that one key suspect in the case was in Pakistan.

The Vancouver Province said the suspect, who it did not name, was believed to have bought the air tickets in Vancouver that allowed two bomb-laden suitcases to pass through airport security. No passengers boarded with the tickets.

One suitcase was transferred in Toronto to Air India flight 182 that exploded on June 23, 1985 off the coast of Ireland. The other suitcase was to be transferred to an Air India flight from Japan to India but exploded at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing two luggage handlers.

The suspect was detained by Canadian police early in the investigation but released for lack of evidence, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.

Malik, 53, of Vancouver, and Bagri, 51, of Kamloops, British Columbia, are prominent fundamentalists Sikhs in Canada, and allegedly connected with groups that waged a violent campaign for an independent Sikh homeland in India's Punjab state.

Most of the suspects under investigation are believed to live in the Vancouver area, which has one of the largest Sikh populations outside of India.

The 1985 bombings were thought to be intended, in part, to avenge the Indian Army's 1984 storming of the Golden Temple -- Sikhism's holiest shrine.

Canadian police have said for several years they believed they knew who committed the bombings, but lacked sufficient evidence to file criminal charges.

A judge at the British Columbia Provincial Court is expected to read the charges to Bagri and Malik on Monday and begin the scheduling process for a long and complicated trial.

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