Lockerbie probe has eight other suspects

LOCKERBIE, Scotland, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- Eight suspects in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing weren't investigated because the Libyan government refused to cooperate, The Scotsman reported.

The people were considered as "high-level" suspects as part of the original inquiry into the bombing of the aircraft over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. The Scotsman reported Monday the people

never were ruled out because Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi refused to release them for questioning.

Details about the suspects became known as law enforcement and court officials said they were reviewing the investigation and preparing to examine several lines of inquiry into the bombing in which 270 died, focusing on others suspected of involvement.

Prosecutors said Lockerbie bombing was open to further review because the only man convicted of the crime, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, dropped his appeal. Megrahi, suffering from terminal cancer, was allowed to return to Libya in August after Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released him on compassionate grounds.

Stuart Henderson, a former detective chief superintendent with Lothian and Borders Police, told the newspaper authorities identified a number of people in Libya during their investigation of the bombing, but they never were interviewed.

"We submitted eight other names of people that we wished to interview that were strong suspects. Unfortunately, we never got that opportunity," said Henderson, who led the Lockerbie incident control center until 1992. "I am delighted they are making moves to see if there is anything further, because no matter what anybody says, we did not ever say it was just Megrahi we were after. We never said that. We were after his bosses."