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Lockerbie bomber played pivotal role in stockpiling chemical weapons in Libya | Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed alMegrahi was implicated in the purchase and development of chemical weapons by Libya, the US has claimed. According to documents produced
by the US State Department, Megrahi sought to buy 1,000 letter bombs from Greek
arms dealers while working as a Libyan intelligence officer. The papers raise
further questions about the wisdom of the Scottish government in releasing the
convicted bomber on compassionate grounds in August. Written in 1992, the documents
were based on information gathered by the Central Intelligence Agency to bolster
the case against Libya for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which killed
270 people, Times Online reports. The documents allege: “An alMegrahi subordinate
operating in Germany in 1988 played an important role in acquiring and shipping
chemical weapons precursors to Libya. Al-Megrahi is also linked to a senior manager
of Libya’s chemical weapons development programme.” Colonel Gadaffi, the Libyan
leader, was suspected of seeking to stockpile chemical and biological weapons.
“Megrahi’s deep involvement in Libya’s most sensitive, high-priority procurement
operations indicates that he enjoyed the fullest confidence of Libya’s leadership,”
they add. In 1987 Megrahi was appointed director of Libya’s Centre for Strategic
Studies, a unit that served the military procurement department. Megrahi was released
from prison in Greenock on August 20 after Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill
received advice that he was terminally ill with prostate cancer. A spokesman for
the US State Department said: “We maintain our position that Megrahi should have
served out the entirety of his sentence in Scotland for his part in the bombing
of Pan Am flight 103.” |
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