CSIS dropped ball on suspect Mr. X, Air India inquiry hears

Canada's spy agency asked the RCMP not to follow up on a suspected gunshot in the woods involving the Air India suspects just 19 days before the June 23, 1985, bombing, the Ottawa inquiry heard Monday.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass testified that he still feels there was a missed opportunity to identify a mystery man involved in the June 4, 1985, incident who is believed to be at the heart of the bombing conspiracy.
The man, dubbed Mr. X, accompanied bombing mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat to a forested area outside Duncan, B.C., while agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service were following.
The CSIS agents heard a loud noise which they mistakenly identified as a gunshot, when it was later learned that it was a test bombing.
Mr. Bass said that while CSIS passed on the information about the noise the very next day, it was with the caveat that police were not supposed to act.
Mr. X remained on Vancouver Island with Reyat for several days, while Mr. Parmar returned to Vancouver alone.
Mr. Bass said more should have been done during that week to follow up, but that CSIS had mistakenly believed that Mr. Parmar and his associates were plotting to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi later in June.
Mr. Bass also revealed that the search for Mr. X is now a significant part of the on-going Air India criminal probe.
Mr. Bass, who came to B.C. to head E Division's major crime section in 1995, is largely credited with ramping up the stalled Air India investigation.
03/12/07 Kim Bolan/CanWest News Service/National Post, Canada

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Categories: Air India - International Dec 2007, Foreign Dec 2007, NACIL Dec 2007, Safety Dec 2007