The Daily Telegraph

Libyan ‘bombmaker’ had already confessed

US authoritie­s act against Libyan man in biggest breakthrou­gh in years into atrocity that killed 270

- By Ben Riley-smith, Colin Freeman, Robert Mendick and Simon Johnson

The man charged with making the bomb used in the Lockerbie terrorist attack had confessed in an interview with the Libyan authoritie­s, US law enforcemen­t has alleged. Abu Agila Masud was accused of packing explosives into a Samsonite suitcase that downed Pan Am Flight 103, in charges unsealed exactly 32 years after the terror attack. Masud was jailed after the fall of the country’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi, according to an FBI affidavit.

A MAN charged yesterday with making the bomb used in the Lockerbie terrorist attack confessed his crime in an interview with the Libyan authoritie­s, US law enforcemen­t has alleged.

Abu Agila Masud was accused of packing explosives into a Samsonite suitcase that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 in charges unsealed exactly 32 years after the terror attack.

Masud allegedly made the confession in a 2012 interview with a Libyan law enforcemen­t officer after being incarcerat­ed following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, the country’s dictator, according to an FBI affidavit.

US investigat­ors who obtained a transcript of the interview called it a critical moment that led to the charges, once combined in the ensuing years with evidence from the scene and travel records.

The Lockerbie bombing on Dec 21 1988 killed 270 people, mostly American. There were 43 British casualties, including 11 on the ground in Lockerbie. It remains the deadliest single terrorist attack in modern UK history.

The issuing of charges represents the biggest breakthrou­gh in the investigat­ion for more than a decade. William Barr, the US attorney general, praised the investigat­ors for the “toil, tears and sweat” they put into the case over the decades as he announced the charges at a press conference.

He said: “Let there be no mistake: no amount of time or distance will stop the United States and its partners in Scotland from pursuing justice.”

Kara Weipz, whose brother Rick Monetti died on the flight and who now leads an advocacy group for victims’ relatives, welcomed the news as a major “step forward”. She said: “We will continue to pursue justice for all who were responsibl­e for this bombing. But today is a small victory.”

Masud is the third alleged conspirato­r to be charged. Abdel Baset alMegrahi and Al-amin Khalifa Fhimah, were charged in 1991.

Megrahi was convicted by Scottish judges in 2001 but was released from prison in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died three years later. Fhimah was acquitted.

Masud i s being held by Libyan authoritie­s and it remains to be seen whether he will stand trial and if so, in which country.

Mr Barr said he hoped Masud would stand trial in America and was optimistic the Libyan government would cooperate. It is possible Scottish investigat­ors could bring their own charges but any such move is limited by an appeal to have Megrahi’s conviction posthumous­ly overturned.

James Wolffe QC, the Lord Advocate, and Scottish police welcomed the news but declined to comment further.

Aamer Anwar, the lawyer leading the Megrahi appeal, criticised the timing of the announceme­nt, alleging it was an attempt to ensure that the appeal failed.

The reigniting of the case more than three decades after the event was credited to the joint persistenc­e of FBI agents and Scottish investigat­ors.

Initial evidence came from the painstakin­g scouring of debris from the flight, spread over a huge area around Lockerbie.

Calling it “the largest crime scene in world history” US officials said every blade of grass had b e en meticulous­ly searched. Amid the debris were fragments of clothing traced back to a shop in Malta, scorched Samsonite luggage sold in the Middle East and a circuit board made in Zurich.

Parts of a Toshiba radio-cassette recorder with evidence of an explosive charge on it were also found. Investigat­ors suspected Masud early in the investigat­ion but were unable to press charges. In the later developmen­ts, they were able to cite travel records showing his movements and his links to the original suspects. The most significan­t breakthrou­gh came in September 2012, after the Gaddafi regime collapsed, wh e n Masud was interviewe­d by Libyan authoritie­s. He confessed he built the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103, according to a 26-page affidavit from FBI agent Rachel Otto. He is alleged to have said he was working on the orders of the Libyan intelligen­ce service.

The affidavits claimed that around three months after the attack, Masud and others were thanked by Gaddafi for “carrying out a great national duty against the Americans”.

Masud’s response to the charges is not known. It is unclear how he would plead if the charges ever came to a trial.

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 ??  ?? The nose of the aircraft, Clipper Maid of the Seas, landed in a field about three miles from Lockerbie, where the main fuselage and tail section dropped, killing 11 people on the ground. Left, William Barr, the US attorney general
The nose of the aircraft, Clipper Maid of the Seas, landed in a field about three miles from Lockerbie, where the main fuselage and tail section dropped, killing 11 people on the ground. Left, William Barr, the US attorney general

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