Fresh investigations into the 1988 Lockerbie bombing are being held in secret court hearings on Malta, a local newspaper has reported.
The reported closed court sessions are said to be reviewing “travel logistics” at the formal request of Scottish prosecutors, the Times of Malta said.
Several Maltese witnesses were called to give evidence, the paper claims, in hearings so secret that even the peepholes into the court were plugged to prevent people from glimpsing proceedings.
270 people were killed in the disaster
Maltese evidence was significant in convicting Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi of the atrocity, which killed 270 people.
Local shopkeer Tony Gauci was a vital witness in the case, the only man to identify al-Megrahi as the man who bought the clothes from his shop, scraps of which were later found on the site of the bomb.
Shopkeeper Tony Gauci's evidence was key to convicting al-Megrahi
A Crown Office spokesperson said:
"As has been made clear this is a live investigation to bring to justice the others involved in this act of State sponsored terrorism.
"Dumfries and Galloway police are working with US law enforcement in pursuit of lines of enquiry. In order to preserve the integrity of the investigation it would not be appropriate to offer further comment."
Al-Megrahi, who always maintained his innocence, was jailed in 2001 for the bombing of PanAm flight 103, but released and returned home in 2009 on humanitarian grounds as he was suffering from prostate cancer.
After the Libyan died in May this year, a spokesman for some of the British families of those killed in the bombing said he regretted the death of the only person to have been convicted in the case.
David Ben-Ayreah said he had always believed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was innocent and described him as the 271st victim of the bombing.
al-Megrahi was the only man ever convicted of the bombings
A petition demanding a public inquiry over the Lockerbie bombing will be discussed on 25 September by the Scottish parliaments justice committee.