London — A Sikh carrying parts of a submachine guns was detained by the British police on arrival here from Canada.
Scotland Yard said on Sunday that the man, who arrived here from Vancouver last Tuesday, had been detained at Heathrow airport and questioned by officers of the antiterrorist squad. He had in his possession five parts of a submachine gun, it said.
The man, whose name was not disclosed, was refused permission to enter Britain and put back on a flight to Canada, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
The spokesman declined to disclose the motive for the Sikhs’s journey to this country, carrying parts of a machine gun. ‘We do not disclose such detail,’ she said in reply to questions.
A British newspaper, the ‘“‘Sunday Telegraph,” however, said it was a plan by a Sikh group to carry out an assassination in Britain and that this had been foiled by immigration officials and Scotland Yard’s special branch and antiterrorist squad.
The target was believed to have been a high-ranking Indian diplomat or official in London, it said.
There is speculation here that the target could have been a high-ranking Indian, either in this country or in India itself.
The Indian high commission here is understood to have been informed by the British Government about the arrival of the suspected Sikh and the refusal to allow him to enter this country.
The “‘Telegraph”’ report said the man had been arrested on his return to Canada. A few days earlier, the Canadian police had arrested a friend or a relative of his with the other half of the Israeli made submachine gun.
The Scotland Yard declined to explain why a person trying to enter this country with so many parts of a lethal weapon was not arrested and tried here but instead sent back to Canada.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 29, 1985
