London CNN — Authorities in the United States and Scotland said Sunday that a Libyan man accused of being involved in the making of the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988 is now in US custody.
A spokesman for the UK Crown Office and Prosecutor Fiscal Service told CNN that the US charged Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi for his alleged involvement in the bombing two years ago.
The bomb detonated over the Scottish town as it flew from London to New York, killing 270 people.
According to a spokesperson, the US Justice Department issued a statement Sunday morning confirming that the US had “taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker” Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, and that he is expected to make his “initial appearance in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.”
The statement did not specify a date for his court appearance, but stated that more information would be forthcoming.
According to a UK official, “the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been informed that the suspect “Mas’ud” or “Masoud” is in US custody.”
Scottish prosecutors and police will continue to pursue this investigation, in collaboration with UK Government and US colleagues, with the sole goal of bringing those who conspired with Al Megrahi to justice.”
Ad Feedback Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah were charged with putting explosives in a portable cassette and radio player that was inside a suitcase on the plane. Megrahi was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2001, but was released after being diagnosed with cancer. He passed away in 2012. Fhimah was found not guilty.
The Lockerbie bombing is still considered the deadliest terrorist attack in British history. It killed 259 people on board the plane and 11 people on the ground.
