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In May 1986, five Canadian Sikhs were charged with plotting to blow up Air India Flight 112 in New York City.〔Johnson, Walter. "The Challenge of Diversity", 2006. p. 185〕〔Abbas, Tahir. "Islamic political radicalism", 2007. p. 51〕 Ostensibly members of Babbar Khalsa, two were convicted and given life sentences, while three others were released.〔Institute for Conflict Management, "Faultlines, Volume 19", p. 112〕 However, years later, the courts overturned the sentences and freed the remaining two men noting that the government had failed to disclose "crucial evidence" about the alleged plot,〔Toronto Star, "Quebec", June 25, 1998〕 and defence lawyers argued that the men had been entrapped by police agents who invited them to a meeting, then suggested the crime, and arrested them for showing signs of agreement.〔Kitchener Waterloo Record, (Montreal men in bomb case get new trial ), September 12, 1991〕 With the arrests coming shortly after the Air India bombing that killed more than 300 Canadians, the Solicitor General Perrin Beatty urged Canadians not to spread fear of terrorism.〔Toronto Star, "Tory asks Canadians to avoid shunning Sikhs after 5 arrests", June 3, 1986〕 ==Arrests== The government claimed that the idea for the alleged plot was hatched on April 4, and was targeting an Air India jet leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport on May 30 in New York.〔 Each of the five men were from Montreal, Quebec,〔Bindman, Stephen. Ottawa Citizen, "Sikhs charged in apparent plot to blow up jet", June 2, 1986〕 and it was later revealed that Khelsa had been under surveillance by Canadian Security Intelligence Service since at least May 1985, when they recorded a phone call he made to Tarwinder Singh Parmar.〔Williams, Gwen. (Exhibit 88: Affidavit ), February 2002〕 A petty criminal codenamed "Billy Joe", with a record for drug trafficking, use of a firearm, kidnapping and assault, approached the Sûreté du Québec and told them that he'd gotten Maninder Anand to agree to buy a stolen Cadillac, and claimed that he'd heard colleagues talk about blowing up an Air India flight. With a long record of informing on his colleagues for the past 12 years, "Billy Joe" offered to get evidence against these Sikhs in exchange for the police dropping charges against one of his friends who was facing life imprisonment.〔Kashmeri, Zuhair. "Soft target: the real story behind the Air India disaster", p. 109-110〕 The case was largely built around an FBI mole, Frank Miele, who spoke to Khela and Dhillon in a bugged Montreal hotel room on May 19 and May 22, offering his services to them under the name of "George" at the urging of "Billy Joe", who had told them he was a member of the Mafia.〔〔Atlanta Journal, (Pope returns home after longest trip of his papacy ), December 2, 1986〕〔Canada.com, (Task force probing publisher's death heads to Montreal ), June 14, 2008〕〔Toronto Star, (Jet plot suspects feared agent, court told ), December 6, 1986〕 Dhillon was worried because Khela had given the American $6,500 for an ostensibly stolen Cadillac, and agreed to attend the meeting to try to make sure that his friend either had his money returned or got legitimate ownership papers on the car.〔Ottawa Citizen, (Bombing suspect was trying to help friend, lawyer says ), December 17, 1986〕 Dhillon later recalled that the American began talking about "crazy things, like bombing an airplane, bombing embassies and buying arms", and that at their only other meeting three days later, he wrote a note insisting that Miele, who was now claiming to be an explosives expert as well as a car thief, not refer to any criminal activities, instead using code words to discuss his ideas, since he was suspicious this was a police sting operation.〔 Miele later claimed that the men had indicated they were willing to pay 20 kilograms of heroin in exchange for him downing a plane.〔 On May 28, a week after meeting with Miele, Dhillon was recorded phoning Khelsa to express relief that the stranger seemed to be leaving them alone now, saying "we have nothing to do with him, we don't damn well know him".〔 On the same day, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and FBI claimed to have received a "tip" about a possible bombing plot by Montreal Sikhs,〔 and the suspects were all arrested by the RCMP.〔 However, although they were charged with possession of explosives,〔Chicago Tribune, "Canada holds Sikhs in plot to bomb jet", June 1, 1986〕 no sign of any explosives was found.〔New York Times, (No explosives found, Sikhs' lawyer asserts ), June 4, 1986〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Air India Flight 112 plot」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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