Lockerbie: Ex-FBI man upbeat about police inquiry

THe FBI agent who was in charge of the Lockerbie case has said he is hopeful Scottish police will benefit from links forged between Libyan officers and the United States.

Reacting to the news that Dumfries and Galloway officers are to enter Libya to investigate the 1988 bombing that killed 259 on Pam Am flight 103 and 11 on the ground, Richard Marquise suggested they would get help from Libyan police trained at the FBI National Academy.

“I do know that five or six years ago, the FBI opened up its National Academy to Libyan police,” he said. “So there were some police officers who had been to the United States and if you could get hold of some of those folks, they might help locate those we are interested in.

“This was nothing to do with Lockerbie – it was some means to provide them with some training. Libyan police officers were asked to come, because it was thought that Libya would become a democratic country, even though Muammar Gaddafi was still in charge.

“I would hope that there would be some relationships built with Libyan police officers who would be able to help.”

Mr Marquise went on: “Clearly they will have their work cut out in terms of the records, but I know that in the past the FBI and the Scottish police compared documents and said, ‘This is what we want to get a look at if we ever get access to Libya’.

“So I am hopeful they will take those templates that we created years ago, even though many of these suspects are gone … I am hopeful they are going to find some good things that will help them.”