By Mithil Aggarwal and Austin Mullen -
NBC News
A Libyan man suspected of making the bomb that blew up a passenger plane over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 is in US custody, US and Scottish authorities said Sunday.
"The United States has taken custody of the
alleged bombmaker of Pan Am Flight 103
, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi," a Justice Department spokesperson told NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
“She is expected to make her initial appearance in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia,” he added.
In a separate statement, the Crown Office and the Scottish Solicitor's Fiscal Service said the families of the victims had been told that Mas'ud was in US custody.
It was not initially clear how he came to be caught by US forces.
The piece of the plane shot down in the Lockerbie attack, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. Martin Cleaver / AP
Pan Am Flight 103, traveling from London to New York, exploded over Lockerbie on December 21, 1988,
killing all 259 people on board the plane
, including 189 Americans, and 11 others on the ground.
It remains
the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil
.
["Her health continues to worsen": migrants who cleaned ground zero after the attacks are still suffering the consequences]
The plane exploded 31,000 feet above the ground, 38 minutes after takeoff, crashing in Lockerbie, a small town in southwestern Scotland, about 80 miles south of the capital city of Edinburgh.
Only one convicted so far for the attack
In 2001,
former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted
of the bombing in a special court in the Netherlands overseen by three Scottish judges and without a jury.
He is to date the only person convicted in the attack.
He lost one appeal and dropped another before being released in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was terminally ill with cancer.
Still protesting his innocence,
he died in Libya three years later
.
Another Libyan intelligence agent, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, was cleared of all charges.
Charged after confessing to involvement in Libya
The Justice Department charged Mas'ud with two criminal counts related to the bombing on the 32nd anniversary of the attack in December 2020.
[Russia “solves” the murder of the daughter of Putin's 'brain' in an attack in Moscow]
At the time, the Justice Department said that Mas'ud had served in various roles for Libyan intelligence, including as a technical expert in the construction of explosive devices, from approximately 1973 to 2011. It also alleged that Mas'ud was involved in the bombing
. with 1986 bombing of the LaBelle nightclub
in West Berlin that killed two US service members.
This Oaxacan remembers victims of 9/11 with the cempasuchil flower on the Day of the Dead
Nov 2, 202203:49
The charges came three years after US officials received in 2017 a copy of a statement Mas'ud had given to Libyan law enforcement in 2012 after he was detained following the collapse of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the country for a long time.
In that interview, US officials said Mas'ud admitted to building the bomb in the Pan Am attack and working with two other plotters to carry it out.
He also said
the operation had been ordered by Libyan intelligence and that Gaddafi
thanked him and other members of the team after the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.
[A Florida woman used a COVID-19 relief loan to have a hitman kill a mother]
Mas'ud will now become the first Libyan operator to stand trial on US soil in connection with the bombing.
A significant milestone after decades of research
On Sunday afternoon, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud discussed the arrest of a suspect.
They remember four students who died in strange circumstances at their university graduation
Dec 11, 202200:23
“This year marks the 34th anniversary of the Pan Am 103 bombing, which
claimed 270 lives,
including 35 Syracuse University students returning from studying abroad,” Syverud said in a statement.
“Today's news is a significant milestone in a decades-long process to bring those responsible for this despicable act to justice.
The Syracuse University community stands with all the families, friends and loved ones of
the victims who have continued to seek justice for more than three decades.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to remember, honor and reflect on the legacy of lives lost,” she said.