That SAA were involved in unlawfully switching baggage that day was confirmed by a Pan Am security officer, Michael Jones, at the Lockerbie fatal accident inquiry (FAI) in October 1990. Jones told the FAI a breach of aviation rules had been committed because the suitcase of South African passenger, Miss Nicola Hall, had been put on the earlier Pan Am 101 flight (with Pik Botha’s delegation) whereas Miss Hall was booked–and died–on PA 103
There is little doubt that apartheid South Africa – at the time a regional superpower armed with nuclear weapons and with technologically-advanced aerospace companies such as Kentron and highly-qualified individuals such as the Coventry Four – would have had the expertise to design an improvised explosive device (IED) capable of bringing down an aircraft. In fact, the Electronic Magnetic Logistical Component (EMLC), a division of the SADF, actually developed such specialist weapons in the form of letter, car and briefcase bombs, as well as gadgets like umbrellas and radios
South African delegation of 23 negotiators – headed by foreign minister, Pik Botha – arrived at Heathrow on December 21, 1988 en route to UN headquarters in New York to sign an agreement relinquishing control of South-West Africa (Namibia) to the United Nations, as demanded by Security Council Resolution 435. The whole delegation including defence minister, General Magnus Malan, and head of military intelligence, General C. J. Van Tonder, were booked for onward travel by flight PA 103. But, according to the Reuters report, their inward South African Airways (SAA) flight from Johannesburg had cut out a stopover in Frankfurt, which was SAA’s European hub, and arrived early at Heathrow. The SA embassy in London managed to re-book Botha and six of his party on the 11:00 Pan Am 101 Flight to New York
Somehow I think these events were slightly more than a mere coincidence…
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September 30, 2007 at 7:39 pm