On December 21, 1988, four days before Christmas, on a cold and finally cold evening, Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London Heathrow Airport for New York City. Of the  259 passengers and crew, 189 were Americans.

Less than 40 minutes into the flight, the plane exploded over the sky above  Lockerbie, Scotland, killing everyone on board and 11 Scots on the ground.

Until 9/11, it was one of the deadliest acts of aviation terrorism in the world and one of the largest and most complex acts of international terrorism ever investigated by the FBI.The settlement of the case required unprecedented international co-operation and 

hours of hard work. The blast, which occurred at an altitude of about 30,000 feet, caused about 845 square miles of debris to fall across Scotland.  

FBI agents and international investigators raided rural areas on their hands and knees, searching for clues on every lawn. They also interviewed more than 10,000 people from over a dozen countries, becoming the world.

The countries participating in the investigation were a number of international police agencies, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and,Britain (including Scotland).

In the end, the FBI, the CIA, and other judicial specialists determined that one piece found on the ground came from a radio / cassette player's circuit board that was no larger than a miniature. Evidence confirmed that a very small piece of the bomb had been placed in the radio tape deck. Another small piece embedded in a piece of shirt helped identify the timer type.

The evidence was from two Libyan intelligence units. In November 1991, the pair 

accused the United States and Scotland of planting the bomb at the same time. 

On January 31, 2001, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was convicted of felony criminal

mischief for several years, taking the case to deportation, work and trial. The co-defendant was found not guilty and released.

                            Image Source: www.thejournal.ie

Recently, the Libyan government officially agreed to pay nearly $3 billion to the families of the victims responsible for the bombing.Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, who led the investigation, described the impact of the case on him personally, said former FBI Director Robert Mueller.

“The constables in charge of the end of the investigation in Scotland have built a 

small wooden warehouse that stores its various effects when the plane crashes in the sky: white sneakers can never be worn again. Youth A Syracuse sweatshirt and other everyday clothing and personal belongings that the Syracuse student will never wear again. These ordinary goods were brought to me and came to symbolize for me the pain and loss of family, friends or colleagues who died that evening.”

Source: www.cnn.com, www.bbc.com, www.fbi.gov

Author: articleflare.com editors

Date of Published: 15/11/2020

Publisher: Articelflare