Crown Office identifies new Lockerbie suspects

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland has requested the help of Libyan judicial authorities for Scottish police officers and the FBI to interview two Libyan suspects in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.

The request comes after the Crown Office said yesterday that the two men are believed to have acted with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted of the bombing, which caused the deaths of 270 people.

Neither suspect has been named by the Crown Office. A spokesman said: "The Lord Advocate and the US Attorney General have recently agreed that there is a proper basis in law in Scotland and the United States to entitle Scottish and US investigators to treat two Libyans as suspects in the continuing investigation into the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.

"The Lord Advocate has today, therefore, issued an International Letter of Request to the Libyan Attorney General in Tripoli which identifies the two Libyans as suspects in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103.

"The Lord Advocate and the US Attorney General are seeking the assistance of the Libyan judicial authorities for Scottish police officers and the FBI to interview the two named suspects in Tripoli.

"The two individuals are suspected of involvement, along with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, in the bombing of flight Pan Am 103 in December 1988 and the murder of 270 people."