The United States Justice Department says it has a Libyan man in custody charged in the 1988 bombing of the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland. Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi has been taken into custody after the US announced charges against him two years ago. The Lockerbie bombing is the deadliest attack to have taken place in the United Kingdom. It killed 259 people on board the airplane, along with 11 on the ground.
Also Read | What happened to the Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1998?
Who is Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi?
Abu Agila Mas’ud is a Libyan man accused of being involved in making the bomb in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people. He is now in the custody of the US, authorities in the United States and Scotland said Sunday. He has been previously held in Libya for his involvement in a 1986 attack on a Berlin nightclub.
Also Read | Who was Abdelbaset al-Megrahi?
The US charged Mas’ud for his alleged involvement in the bombing two years ago, said a spokesperson for the UK Crown Office and Prosecutor Fiscal Service, as per a CNN report.
“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,” a spokesperson for Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said.
Also Read | Lockerbie bombing death toll and investigation: All you need to know
“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.”
A statement from US Justice Department on Sunday morning confirmed that the US had “taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker” Mas’ud. He is expected to make his first appearance in the US District Court of Columbia.
Also Read | Who is Lamin Khalifah Fhimah?
So far, the only person who has been prosecuted for the bombing was former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi. He spent seven years in a Scottish prison after his conviction in 2001. He died in 2012.