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

The United States confirmed on Sunday (December 11) that a Libyan man, who is accused of making the bomb that destroyed a Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1988, is in US custody.

The Justice Department said that the US has taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi. The department said that an announcement was first made by prosecutors in Scotland.

Without providing any details, the department spokesman said Masud was expected to make an initial appearance in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

A total of 270 people were killed when the bomb blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland 34 years ago in an incident that is said to be the deadliest terrorist incident to have taken place on British soil.

Two years ago, the US authorities charged Abu Agila Mohammad Masud for the Lockerbie bombing. He had previously been held in Libya for his alleged involvement in a 1986 attack on a Berlin nightclub.

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."

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