inappbrowser with _blank option issue in android

Loading the first page only , and freezes if click on any other links from the loaded website, using "_blank" for opening the target website.
It was working before without any issues. when i click on any href links , URL is changing inside the location bar but the respective page is not loading and eventually current page is getting stucked.
i am using following :
cordova : 8.1.1
android : 7.1.4
inappbrowser plugin version: 3.0.0

Other plugins used in the project :
cordova-android-support-gradle-release 1.4.2 "cordova-android-support-gradle-release"
cordova-plugin-app-version 0.1.9 "AppVersion"
cordova-plugin-camera 4.0.2 "Camera"
cordova-plugin-device 2.0.1 "Device"
cordova-plugin-facebook4 4.2.1 "Facebook Connect"
cordova-plugin-file 6.0.1 "File"
cordova-plugin-file-transfer 1.7.1 "File Transfer"
cordova-plugin-geolocation 4.0.1 "Geolocation"
cordova-plugin-inappbrowser 3.0.0 "InAppBrowser"
cordova-plugin-ionic-webview 4.0.1 "cordova-plugin-ionic-webview"
cordova-plugin-media-capture 3.0.1 "Capture"
cordova-plugin-statusbar 2.4.2 "StatusBar"
cordova-plugin-video-editor 1.1.3 "VideoEditor"
cordova-plugin-whitelist 1.3.3 "Whitelist"
cordova-plugin-x-socialsharing 5.2.1 "SocialSharing"
es6-promise-plugin 4.1.0 "Promise"
phonegap-plugin-push 2.1.3 "PushPlugin"

Any help is appreciated.

Start by reproducing the reported behavior with Cordova 8.1.1, cordova-android 7.1.4, and InAppBrowser 3.0.0, opening links with the `_blank` target. Compare navigation after the first page loads and verify that subsequent links load normally without freezing.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.