December 1988: Some of the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed in the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988. The Boeing 747 'Clipper Maid of the Seas' was destroyed en route to Heathrow to New York's JFK Airport, when a bomb was detonated in its forward cargo hold.
All 259 people on board died, as well as 11 people in the town of Lockerbie.
(Photo by Bryn Colton/Getty Images)
London (CNN) --
A Libyan man accused of involvement in making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988 is now in US custody, US authorities said Sunday. and Scotland.
The United States indicted Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi two years ago for his alleged role in the bombing, a spokesman for the UK's Crown Office and Solicitor General Revenue Service told CNN.
The attack killed 270 people when the bomb went off over the Scottish city while flying from London to New York.
Two Libyans identified as suspects in Pan Am Flight 103 bombing
The US Department of Justice issued a statement on Sunday morning confirming that the United States had "taken custody of the alleged bomb maker of Pan Am Flight 103" Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, in the one he says is expected to make his "initial appearance in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia," according to a spokesperson.
The statement did not identify a specific date for his court appearance, but said more details would be forthcoming.
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Al-Marimi had been in custody in Libya for unrelated crimes when he was indicted by the US Department of Justice two years ago.
The UK official told CNN that “the families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that suspect 'Mas'ud' or 'Masoud' is in US custody.
"Scottish prosecutors and police, in collaboration with the UK government and their US counterparts, will continue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted in conjunction with Al Megrahi to justice."
Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was charged along with Al Amin Khalifah Fhimah with placing explosives in a portable cassette and radio player that was inside a suitcase on the plane.
Megrahi was sentenced in 2001 to 27 years in prison, but was released after being diagnosed with cancer.
He died in 2012. Fhimah was acquitted.
The Lockerbie bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack to have taken place in the UK.
It killed 259 people on board the plane, along with 11 on the ground.
Lockerbie Pan Am 103