The FBI is believed to have identified the Lockerbie bomb-maker from details given by an East German officer who defected to the West. He said that investigators discovered the name from hotel records where the suspect had been staying.
For years, the FBI was unable to identify the bomb-maker, nicknamed ‘The Ghost’. US prosecutors are poised to file an extradition request to Tripoli, where he is serving a 10-year sentence for bomb-making.
The Bureau named Libyan intelligence officer, Abdel-Baset Al-Megrahi as the key suspect of the attack according to the Telegraph.
Al-Megrahi was jailed for life by a Scottish court in 2001, before dying from cancer in 2012. A CIA double agent working at the Libyan Airlines told investigators that Al-Megrahi had been with a dark-skinned Libyan. Moreover, a timer fragment found in the debris appeared identical to ones supplied to Libya by a Swiss maker, who described a man matching the description.
A source told the Telegraph: “Prosecutors are confident they have identified the man they believe responsible for making the bomb. They have never given up on their goal of achieving justice for the families of those who died.”
It would be the first US trial for the 1988 downing of Pan Am flight 103, that killed 270.