
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003022996
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

PAN AM HAD EASED SECURITY BEFORE BOMB

Nine months before the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the airline abandoned a key safety procedure, requiring all checked baggage at Frankfurt Airport to be accompanied by passengers, a London newspaper reported Thursday.

The Independent said investigators now believe the relaxation in security gave terrorists the opportunity to smuggle the bomb onto the plane in an unaccompanied suitcase.

The newspaper said its information was based on a memorandum sent March 28, 1988, to Pan Am's security staff in London and Frankfurt, West Germany.

In New York, a Pan Am spokesman confirmed the existence of the memo and that the procedure concerning unaccompanied luggage had been changed. He insisted Pan Am did so with the approval of the FAA.

by CNB