Pan Am terror bust
Libyan ‘bomber killed 270’ in Lockerbie
A Libyan intelligence official suspected in the United Kingdom’s deadliest terror attack — a plane bombing more than three decades ago — was in US custody on Sunday.
Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi was arrested for allegedly helping make the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, leaving 270 people dead, officials said.
The plane was en route from London to New York when it exploded, killing all those on board and 11 others on the ground in the small town near the border with England.
Victims of the attack included 190 Americans — dozens of whom were Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after spending a semester studying abroad — as well as citizens from 20 other countries.
In a statement Sunday, Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said the development was a notable step in the process “to bring those responsible for this despicable act to justice.”
Masud was taken into custody two years after US authorities charged him in connection with the massacre. He was being held by Libyan authorities at the time.
The alleged terrorist was set to appear in Washington, DC, federal court on Monday.
He is the third Libyan intelligence official charged in the attack but would be the first to stand trial on US soil.
Masud, allegedly a top bombmaker for then-Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy, faced two criminal counts, including destruction of an aircraft resulting in death.
It was unclear how the US negotiated his extradition.
Masud had been kidnapped from his Tripoli residence by armed men last month, and his family accused the government of not responding to the apparent abduction, according to reports by Lybian news outlets.
When asked about extraditing Masud, the country’s foreign minister told the BBC last year Libya was “very open in terms of collaboration on this matter.”
Libya has been embroiled in civil war for more than a decade, and militia groups have gained wealth and power through kidnapping and human trafficking.
The US got a breakthrough in the Lockerbie crash case in 2017 when it received a copy of an interview in which Masud admitted building the bomb with cohorts Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah. He purportedly gave the confession after Khadafy’s government dissolved in 2012.
Al-Megrahi and Fhimah were tried by Scottish judges sitting in the Netherlands. Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted in 2001 and died in 2012 while trying to appeal the ruling. Fhimah was acquitted of all charges.
Scottish officials said Sunday the families of the victims had been notified of the arrest.
“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 spokesman for the UK Crown Office and Prosecutor Fiscal Service said.