LOCKERBIE

The sabotage and destruction of Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 resulted in the deaths of 269 passengers, crew, and people on the ground and prompted the largest antiterrorist investigation ever conducted by MI5. Adetailed forensic examination of the contents of the cargo hold revealed that a bomb had been concealed inside a battery-operated cassette recorder, which had been placed in an unaccompanied suitcase consigned from Malta. The bomb’s timer was traced to a Swiss manufacturer, which identified the purchaser, and eventually two Libyan intelligence officers were charged with murder and tried before a Scottish court empanelled in The Hague. One, Abdelbasset Megrahi, was convicted, and Libya subsequently offered compensation to the families of the victims.