The Lockerbie Tragedy

Terrorism Timo HeiKine 27/05/2021

The Lockerbie Tragedy

Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie was an attack conducted on UK sovereign soil, yet many people were not happy with the initial investigation. Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing. Magrahi’s family appealed to the Scottish court in 2020; the ruling made by the Scottish judiciary explained that they did not want to release the evidence to Megrahi’s family lawyer, as it would destroy relations with the country involved. The US General Attorney William Barr announced new charges against Abu Agila Mas’ud. The indictment alleged that Mas’ud is a Libyan intelligence officer, and the Lockerbie bomb maker. However, the Scottish judge recognised that there was a letter from the Jordanian King to the then UK prime minister, explaining that Marween Kersheet was a Jordanian intelligence officer and created the Lockerbie bomb.

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

For those reasons I decided to investigate these claims, looking at the available information and evidence that would have been of interest to Megrahi’s defence.

According to the investigators and a collection of evidence, the bomb was in a Toshiba tape recorder, which was in a Samsonite suitcase surrounded by clothes made in Malta. George Thomson an investigator for Megrahi’s defence and the SCCR (Scottish Criminal Cases Review System) went to Malta and investigated the allegations made by Gauci the Maltese shop owner. The SCCRC report, is independent from the Scottish Courts -- they gave reasons why Megrahi should appeal to the court about his sentence. Here is a quick run through of Gauci’s statement...

•In Gauci’s first statement to the police he said the man bought the clothes on November 28, 1988, but Megrahi was in Malta on December 8, 1988.

• Gauci said it had rained that night, so the man bought an umbrella (an umbrella was found at the scene of Lockerbie). General Misfud a meteorologist said it did not rain on the night of December 8, 1988.

• Gauci also claimed that the towns Christmas lights were not on the night the man bought the clothes, but (get politician name) said the lights were switched on, on December 7, 1988 so they should have been switched on in the evening of December 8, 1988.

However, the biggest problem with Gauci’s statement is about who bought the clothes from his shop. During 1989, Police Scotland went to Malta and spoke to Gauci, they found that he was uncertain about who, what, and when he sold the clothes that were found at the Lockerbie scene. At first Gauci’s gave an initial description to the police claiming the person who purchased the items was six feet or more in height and was over the age of fifty with dark skin and looked Egyptian. Thomson found Gauci’s statement to change after every meeting with the police and changed his descriptions of Megrahi over at least a fifteen-month period. Consequently, this shows that Police Scotland may have pressured Gauci into identifying Megrahi as the person who bought the clothes

Reference picture 2 lockerbie pic.twitter.com/fU6BoIvi7L
— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

Gauci’s description that changed

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

The image above is a copy of the photo sketch and is the description from Gauci of Megrahi given to the police. The problem with Gauci’s description of Megrahi is that Megrahi was only 5ft 7 inches, age 36, light skinned, and from Libya -- the complete opposite to Gauci’s initial description. Police Scotland arranged a line up for Gauci to choose who he thought was the person that bought the clothes. Gauci picked out Megrahi in the line-up. However, the line-up was tainted as the police discovered that on day of the line-up Gauci had been reading an article which named the alleged bomber and contained a picture of Megrahi. There is one more problem with the line-up that I have observed

“The SCCRC stated, “… although Mr Gauci testified to not having experience of height or age, the court accepted that there was a ‘substantial discrepancy’”

Reference picture 4 lockerbie pic.twitter.com/aYMXVUCYvf
— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

As you can see from the image above Megrahi looks taller than all the other men chosen for the line-up. As Gauci first described, the person he served was over six-foot in height. The line-up seen in the image above creates the illusion that Megrahi is tall, thus leading the eyewitness to choose the tallest person. To create a fair line-up the police must choose men similar in height, age, ethnicity and build, but I am unsure how any of the people chosen fit Gauci ‘s sketch? Plus, a line-up is not supposed to be easy to choose a person.

Furthermore, George Thomson’s investigation found more information that raised more questions, rather than finding answers. For instance, Gauci was taken on several trips to Scotland with all expenses paid by the Police Scotland. He claimed he was taken in a car with police to make sure he was telling the right story. The investigations into Gauci also found that he received up to $3 million in reward money from the US Department of Defence (DOJ), which involved secret payments as discussed by the Scottish detectives. All expenses paid trips and receiving reward money for an eyewitness statement, therefore putting pressure on Gauci to identify Megrahi, goes against Scottish laws, which made the eyewitness statement unreliable. The SCCRC stated, “… although Mr Gauci testified to not having experience of height or age, the court accepted that there was a ‘substantial discrepancy’” (page 18), but the court took Gauci’s statement into account.

Documentation of Evidence, Grey Shirt and a Piece of the Timer*

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

Thomson found discrepancies with the German records and the Scottish recording of the evidence in the Lockerbie bombing case. Both these records are supposed to be the same because Scotland passed on the same record to Germany, to keep the German authorities informed about the Lockerbie case. The Maltese police report on Gauci’s statement about the alleged shirt found at the scene of Lockerbie was doctored. Thomson also found Dr Hayes report had changed on the date they found the timer fragment, but there were no explanations as to why these changes were made.

The detectives on the case of the Lockerbie bombing found the piece of timer in the collar of a man’s grey shirt, bought in Malta. Gauci’s first statement had no mention of a shirt, then he changed the statement in 1990 to “that man never bought a shirt for sure”, then on the September 10, 1990 Gauci changed the statement again to the man bought a man’s beige, and a blue and white stripe shirt on that day. Thus, this brings us back to the doctored police report in Malta, where they score out beige to grey shirt, but the typed up recorded Scottish report only mentions the grey shirt.

Thomson took the evidence of the shirt a step further and while he was in Malta asked Tony Caurauna and Godwin Flarvano about the shirt in the image provided by the Scottish police. Caurauna was a tailor and Flarvano supplied the shirts to shops. Both told the police that the shirt in the picture was a boy’s shirt and not a man’s shirt. Thomson asked why Caurauna and Flavrvano say it is a boy’s shirt and they both explain about the size of the pocket, as well as the width of the hem, which are smaller than on a man’s shirt. Although, Caurauna and Flavrvano told the police this information in 1990, it was never brought forward or shown to the defence and neither men were brought in as expert/eyewitnesses to court.

The Timer Now back to the piece of timer allegedly found in the grey shirt

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

*This is the same image of the piece of timer (shown above) that Acting Attorney General William Barr pointed to, claiming that this was the evidence pointing to Libya

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

*The image of the documented evidence of the piece of timer, seen in AJ Barr’s image, but…

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

*The piece of timer in this image is the shirt and a piece of timer allegedly found in the grey shirt is the fragment linking to Malta-Libya. According to CIA/FBI investigators, they claimed that this is a piece of timer linking to the MST 13, which were timers created by MEBO Telecoms

However, Thomson pointed out that Dr Hayes recorded evidence of the piece of timer had page numbers changed and pages added. He also noted that dates did not match up to when the evidence was found as one of the documents stated May 1989, and the other January 1990.

John Aston (investigator) and John Kelly Megrahi’s lawyer found two important documents about the pieces of timer within a box load of papers they received from the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The two documents were written by Alan Feraday, who analysed the differences from the undamaged timer to the piece of timer found at Lockerbie. Feraday found that the damaged piece of timer, the plating on the board was pure tin but the undamaged board was 70% tin and 30% lead. To explain why both boards were not identical there was a hypothesis that the lead would have vaporised during the explosion.

Ashton went to Jess Corley a metallurgist and a documented expert witness for the Scottish courts, to find out whether lead could have been vapourised during the explosion. Corley took Aston to the advanced manufacturing plant to conduct an experiment to replicate the heat of an explosion to analyse the piece of timer. The analysis by Corley found that there was no loss of lead, so the hypothesis mentioned above could not be substantiated. Therefore, the piece of circuit board found at the scene of the Lockerbie bombing could not have come from Megrahi or Libya.

The new information found in 2012 was not the only piece of evidence that changed the narrative of the MST-13 timers. Ulrich Lumpert employed by MEBO Telecom and designed the MST-13 timers for the Libyan government. Lumpert confessed to Dr. Hans Koechler, the international observer appointed by the United Nations, at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands in a written statement.

“… Mr. Lumpert implicitly admits [having] committed perjury as witness No. 550 before the Scottish Court in the Netherlands. He states […] that he has stolen a handmade (by him) sample of an “MST-13 Timer PC-board” from MEBO company in Zurich and handed it over, on 22 June 1989 (!), to an “official person investigating the Lockerbie case.” He further states […] that the fragment of the MST-13 timer, cut into two pieces for “supposedly forensic reasons,” which was presented in Court as vital part of evidence, stemmed from the piece which he had stolen and handed over to an investigator in 1989. He further states that when he became aware that this piece was used for an “intentional politically motivated criminal undertaking” (vorsätzliche politisch kriminelle “Machenschaft”) he decided, out of fear for his life, to keep silent on the matter”.

Nevertheless, the Scottish Court’s written decision claims they cannot rule out that ‘other’ MST-13 timers were not made, but how can you rule out something that may not have ever existed?

Overall, between the investigation conducted by everyone mentioned throughout the article so far, shows how the vital evidence used to find Megrahi and Libya guilty completely falls apart when someone investigates the claims thoroughly. There is so much information that can be added about Gauci’s eyewitness account; however, I want to write about the accusations about how the CIA asset was discredited and the story behind the CIA agents who were killed on Pan Am flight 103. Hopefully, I will be able to help clear up points with facts, to diminish what certain people believe to be a conspiracy.

Majid Giaka the Libyan Mechanic and CIA Asset… How intelligent is your intelligence?

Giaka was a US CIA asset, a car mechanic working as an assistant to the station manager of Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA) in Malta. John Holt was Giaka’s handler and Holt was the author of secret cables explaining that the Libyan double agent put forward by Scottish prosecutors as the star witness in the Lockerbie bombing trial had a history of "making up stories". Holt argued,

[Giaka] was placed by Libyan Intelligence as Malta Airport office manager with Libyan Arab Airlines and had very little information about anything to do with bombs – or Lockerbie. [Giaka] felt humiliated by Megrahi, who was an official with the Libyan Intelligence Service. 'I was treated,' he said, 'like a dog when Megrahi came to the office.' […] the CIA knew Giaka had a grudge against Megrahi. Every time I met Giaka, which was each month or two, I would also ask him if he had any information at all about the Pan-Am bombing. All of us CIA and FBI field officers were asked by the CIA to keep pressing our assets for any answers or clues. His [Giaka] answer was always: No!” Holt also expressed his dissatisfaction with Giaka: “I expressed my opinion to the FBI that Giaka was nothing more than a wannabe who was not a real Intel Officer for the Libyans. He had no information re Lockerbie, and I told the CIA all this in comments I made in my cables. He went back to Libya at the end of 1989, and I moved on to another assignment. In 1991 Giaka told the CIA that he had been exposed and the Libyans would kill him. When he was told he was useless to our intelligence services [the CIA and FBI], he began making up stories. [..] he needed desperately to get some financial and logistical support from the US to flee Libya in 1991 that he started telling the CIA things relevant to the PanAm-103 bombings – like hearing Megrahi and another man talking about a plan to bomb an American airliner.

Holt writes in 2021 that his cables were ignored and should have been considered because Holt would be defined as a witness for the defence to counter argue the prosecutors’ claims against Megrahi. The images below taken from the SCCRC report, explains how far the prosecution went to cover up expert witnesses that could discredit their so-called star witnesses

Reference picture 9 lockerbie pic.twitter.com/AL2I9ms9Vc
— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

*The SCCRC report also argued that the Crown hid the CIA cables from the defence, which also violated Megrahi’s right to a fair trial. I know ex-CIA agent Holt believes his cables were ignored, but not everyone ignored Holt -- the SCCRC report did not ignore his experience with Giaka, the so-called CIA asset.

The Four Cia Agents

Before I delve into the information about the CIA/DSS agents killed in the Lockerbie bombing, we must remember that the attack happened during the Cold War era. The Cold War era was a time of covert action, Iran-Nicaragua contras, NATO’s stay behind armies and the spreading disinformation with the help of Western government intelligence agents. The agents killed were Major Charles McKee (DIA/CIA), Matthew Gannon (CIA), Ronald Albert Lariviere (DSS Special Agent) and Daniel Emmett O’Connor (DSS Special Agent).

All four agents mentioned had their allocated jobs to do in Lebanon. For instance, McKee was the main negotiator in getting the hostages released in Beirut, Robert Baer ex-CIA will also vouch for McKee. Gannon was collecting intelligence on extremist groups to report back to the CIA. Both Lariviere and O’Conner were protection officers for the US Ambassador John McCarthy in Lebanon. However, on the internet there are accusations that one of these men was trafficking drugs and part of the Oliver North drug trafficking routes (Iran/Nicaragua Contra see below for references). People living in Lockerbie claim to have seen a case of drugs at the Lockerbie bomb scene. Then, you have individuals claiming the case of drugs is a conspiracy. I claim there is no conspiracy, and a case of drugs were probably found. I may not be sure about the Oliver North situation, but I can explain why a case of drugs may have been on Pan Am Flight 103.

Jonathon Winer claims that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has more undercover agents on the ground in the Middle East, than the CIA. Since the early 1980’s, the DEA has uncovered certain drug trafficking routes to prevent the drugs from entering the US. I know this is a contradiction from what North was doing, and the DEA would be a cover story for North and his CIA drug trafficking, but the DEA have genuinely stopped drug trafficking

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

*DEA has been transitioning, in recent years, from traditional Narc work into areas that have nothing to do with drugs. The agency’s elite Special Operations Division has been using confidential informants to catch notorious arms traffickers in elaborate stings.

The DEA elaborate stings were also known to be conducted for drug traffickers, and one way for the agent to get the drugs through airport security was the use of the US Foreign Assistance Act 1961.

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— Interouts (@Interouts1) May 27, 2021

“Title III, International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement, Sec 481, the President is authorised to furnish assistance for the control of narcotic and psychotropic drugs and other controlled substances or for other crime purposes”. In other words, intelligence services have the authorisation to take drugs through any country that receives aid defined in the Foreign Assistance Act 1961. This could reasonably explain the case of drugs on Pan Am flight 103. If I were to choose an intelligence officer from the list, I would say Gannon’s job gathering intel on extremist groups would explain why he may have had a case of drugs on board the flight. However, I do not have real evidence to prove my claims about Gannon, as the person who could tell us is not with us anymore. I think in this case it is a question of what is morally right or wrong, but the agent who carried the case of drugs may have seen it as morally right, documenting the type of drugs being brought in from the Middle East.

Conclusion

I do not understand why people want to claim the case of drugs as a conspiracy, when the facts of why are there, written in black and white. Furthermore, I will not call any of the four CIA agents North’s men, as there is no evidence to prove it.

To conclude the Megrahi case, I do not understand why or how a Scottish Court can accept the fact that evidence dates and pages added were accepted without a reasonable explanation to why the changes were made. It is also easy to show how Gauci and Giaka were coached into providing their statements to the Scottish Courts, as both men gained a better life from the Lockerbie case. This also questions ex- AG William Barr’s new indictment for Abu Agila Mas’ud from Libya, maybe Marween Kersheet from Jordan should be questioned more? If I am honest does anything reported about what happened at Lockerbie make sense? I know that after reading all the information about the case, I understand that the results of the Scottish Court of Appeal convicted the wrong man, to suit a political agenda.

*To write this article the author used all the references written below, please read & watch the recommended videos & articles, as there is more information, which may give you a different opinion from the article written above.