A Libyan man has been detained by American police on suspicion of building the bomb that brought down a passenger airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people, among them 190 Americans.

A representative for the Department of Justice announced in a statement that “the United States has taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi.”

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The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service of Scotland have stated that the arrest has also been reported to the relatives of those killed in the bombing.

“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,” the office stated in a statement.

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Who is Lamin Khalifah Fhimah?

Lamin Khalifah Fhimah is a Libyan national who was convicted in 2001 for his role in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Fhimah was the station manager at the Malta airport at the time of the bombing, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.

Fhimah was arrested in 1991 and extradited to the United Kingdom in 1999 to face trial. He was found not guilty on all counts, while his co-defendant, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

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Fhimah has maintained his innocence and claimed that he was not involved in the bombing. He has also stated that he was a victim of political manipulation and that the trial was not fair.

Despite his acquittal, Fhimah’s life has been deeply affected by the Lockerbie bombing. He has faced harassment and death threats from victims’ families and has been unable to return to his job at the Malta airport.

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Fhimah has since moved to Tripoli, Libya where he currently lives in obscurity. He had not publicly commented on the controversy surrounding al-Megrahi’s release from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds.