Today is Saturday, October 24, 2020.

On this day in 1986, the British government cut diplomatic ties with Syria over a failed

airplane bombing, an attack that was allegedly planned by Syrian intelligence.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from podcast.

Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes, listener discretion is advised.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

Today we're covering the fallout of Nazar Hindawi's attempt to blow up LL Flight 016.

Let's go back to the Syrian Embassy in London on October 24, 1986.

The Syrian Ambassador, Dr. Loutoff Hyder, didn't want to ever hear a reporter's voice again.

It seemed that every television set in the United Kingdom was tuned to coverage of the

trial.

A trial that had seemingly revealed his own country's duplicity.

Just six months earlier, a terrorist named Nazar Hindawi had tried to blow up a plane.

Although his plot was thwarted, the attempt made international news, especially when he claimed

that the Syrian government had put him up to it.

Hindawi initially claimed that a Syrian intelligence official told him the suitcase contained

drugs that needed to be smuggled and sold in Tel Aviv for a fee of $250,000.

He was unaware that it actually contained an explosive.

Once the bomb was intercepted, Hindawi fled to the Syrian Embassy.

And there, Ambassador Hyder had taken him in and allegedly advised Hindawi to cut and

die his hair in the hopes that would help him escape justice.

At least that was what Hindawi claimed, but ever since the would-be bombers arrest in

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