US confirms that alleged bombmaker who is accused in 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing is in custody

On Sunday (December 11), the US stated that they were holding a Libyan guy who is suspected of creating the bomb that brought down a Pan Am aircraft over Scotland in 1988.

According to the Justice Department, Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, the putative mastermind behind Pan Am Flight 103’s bombing, has been taken into US custody. According to the department, Scottish prosecutors were the ones to make the initial announcement.

The department spokesperson said Masud was anticipated to make an initial appearance in the US District Court for the District of Columbia without offering any other information.

It is believed that the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 34 years ago, killed 270 persons in all, making it the deadliest terrorist attack to have occurred on British territory.

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud was accused of being responsible for the Lockerbie attack by US investigators two years ago. For his alleged involvement in a 1986 attack on a Berlin bar, he had already been detained in Libya.

A spokesperson for Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: ‘The families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi … is in US custody.’

‘Scottish prosecutors and police, working with UK government and US colleagues, will continue to pursue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with al-Megrahi to justice.’