Pan Am Flight 103 in secret return to Scotland
A CONVOY of six lorries secretly returned the Lockerbie jet to Scots soil — a quarter of a century after Pan Am
Flight 103 was blown up in an atrocity never to be forgotten.
The remains of the plane — which exploded in 1988 killing 270 people — were taken to an unknown secure location a
few miles from the Dumfriesshire town.
The fuselage of the Boeing 747, painstakingly reconstructed in the aftermath of the terror attack, is back to aid fresh
efforts to nail the accomplices of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi — the only person convicted over the blast.
It had previously been housed at an air accident investigation hangar in the south of England for almost 25 years.
Relatives of the victims were told of the move last week as the crucial central section of the plane was transported 350
miles north from Farnborough, Hants.
A source said: “The wreckage is clearly a vital piece of evidence for the Crown Office and police, should their
investigations into suspects in Libya lead to more charges.
“The fuselage had been taken apart again before being transported, but it could be put back together if necessary as all
the pieces are catalogued in detail.
“There have been questions over who should be storing the plane for the past decade.
“The premises where it was kept was being refurbished and it was felt most sensible to bring it back to Scotland. We
have entered a new phase in the investigation after the collapse of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime, so it is important the
wreckage is on hand in Scotland, meaning investigators have easy access.”
Former Libyan intelligence officer Megrahi died aged 60 of prostate cancer nearly three years after he was released by
the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds. He is the only person convicted of Britain’s most deadly terror
attack.
But the Crown Office believe others must have been involved.
And the country’s top lawman, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, has had a team of cops and lawyers on the case since
despot Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011. In February a Crown Office and police delegation teamed up with the
FBI to meet Libyan officials — but have so far failed to gain access to key suspects.
Those said to be in the frame include Megrahi’s co-accused, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, who was cleared in the Camp
Zeist trial at the Netherlands in 2001.
It has also been claimed that Megrahi’s spy boss Abdullah Senussi — Gaddafi’s brother-in-law — is a suspect.
Last night the Crown Office confirmed: “Wreckage of Pan Am 103, the plane destroyed in the Lockerbie bombing, has
been returned to Scotland.
“Parts of the fuselage retrieved from the scene of the 1988 terrorist atrocity were used to reconstruct the fuselage of Pan
Am 103 for evidential purposes.
“The wreckage was previously stored at the Air Accident Investigation Branch in Farnborough for 24 years.
“Due to the refurbishment of a hangar, the reconstruction was dismantled and removed. It will now be stored at a secure
location in the Dumfries area. The families have been advised of these recent developments.”
The decision to move the jet — called Clipper Maid of the Seas — comes after years of wrangling over where to keep it.
The explosion at 31,000ft on December 21, 1988, caused debris to be scattered over a massive 845 square miles.
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