Lockerbie Bomber Missing: Al-Megrahi Can't Be Reached, Reports Times

UK authorities do not know where convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi is. According to The Times, the Libyan national convicted of in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that ultimately killed 270 in Scotland, has not been in touch with UK authorities, as mandated upon release:

Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.

Megrahi was freed from the UK's Greenock Prison in Scotland in August 2009 on compassionate grounds. UK Officials said that Megrahi was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing soon returned to a hero's welcome in Libya

The Times' Health Editor Sam Lister reports that Megrahi has not made recent visits to the hospital for his chemotherapy treatments and wonders what the convicted man's status could be. Lister's analysis:

Al-Megrahi is younger than the average sufferer at stage 4 and the same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people. What can be said with some certainty, however, is that a prolonged stay away from hospital is unlikely to be a positive sign.