Members of the Air India Task Force went to Matsqui prison in Abbotsford early in the day with a warrant for his arrest. The explosion off the Irish coast killed 329 people, mostly Canadians. The Crown filed a direct indictment against the former Duncan mechanic in the bombing, meaning the trial will proceed without a preliminary hearing. Reyat was at Matsqui serving the final two days of his 10-year sentence for manslaughter after being convicted 10 years ago of making a bomb that blew up in the Tokyo airport, killing two baggage handlers, on the same day as the Air India blast.
Police believe both bombs originated in British Columbia.
They blame militant Sikh separatists targetting India's national airline in their fight for a Sikh homeland. Reyat's 10-year sentence for manslaughter expires Saturday. He is charged along with millionaire businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik and Sikh cleric Ajaib Singh Bagri. Malik, of Vancouver, and Bagri, of Kamloops, B.C., face charges of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in the two blasts. Because Reyat was extradited from Britain to face charges related to the Japanese bomb, Canada needed British permission to lay the additional charges in connection with the explosion off the Irish coast.