A man suspected of creating the bomb that crashed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270 people, is currently being detained in the United States. Let’s see Who Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is and about the Lockerbie plane crash in detail.
Who is Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi?
Federal officials told ABC News that the Libyan intelligence officer suspected of creating the explosive device has been taken into custody by the United States to face justice, nearly 34 years after 270 people—190 of them Americans—died in the mid-air bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Police look at the wreckage of the Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 22, 1988.
Image : Getty Images.
According to a Department of Justice official, Abu Agila Mas’ud will be prosecuted in the US for his alleged involvement in the deadliest terror act to occur on British territory and the one that included the most Americans.
Mas’ud has been accused by the US of creating the explosive that destroyed the Boeing 747 as it was flying from Frankford, Germany, to Detroit.
Court hearing
A group of Syracuse University students returning from studying overseas was among those killed.
The spokesperson stated that more information on the court hearing’s schedule will be provided soon.
“He is expected to make his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.”
A representative for Scotland’s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) announced on Sunday that the Lockerbie bombing victims’ relatives have been informed that the suspect is in American custody.
“The families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi is in U.S. custody.”
A total of 270 people died in the Lockerbie bombing on 21 December 1988.
Image : Getty Images.
The arrest of Masud was “an amazing feat for the families, and finally justice for our loved ones who were innocent,” according to Kara Weipz, president and spokesman of the organisation Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, whose brother was killed in the explosion.
Weipz said,
“To have one of the people responsible for the murder of our loved ones stand trial in the U.S. is one of the most important things to the families and to all of us.”
“The amount of people involved — we kept it on the forefront of six administrations.”
Lockerbie plane crash
The deadliest ever militant strike in Britain, the bomb on the Boeing 747 travelling to the United States killed all 259 aboard as well as 11 on the ground.
Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah were charged in the attack in 1991 together with two other Libyan intelligence agents.
Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 after being proven guilty of the attack. He was later released, however he passed away in 2012 due to cancer.
Despite Fhimah’s complete acquittal, Scottish prosecutors have insisted that Megrahi did not act alone.
The Crown Office added,
“Scottish prosecutors and police, working with U.K. government and U.S. colleagues, will continue to pursue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with al-Megrahi to justice.”
The United States released criminal accusations against Mas’ud, a third conspirator who was allegedly involved, in 2020, saying that he has experience as a technical expert in the creation of explosive devices.
Mas’ud Case History
In Libya, Masud had previously been given a 10-year term for making a bomb that was used in a different attack.
On the 32nd anniversary of the Lockerbie attack, the United States announced charges against him and requested his extradition.
The criminal complaint was mostly based on a confession Masud reportedly gave to Libyan authorities in 2012 and his suspected involvement in the crime as shown by his travel history.
William Barr, the attorney general at the time, said at a news conference,
“At long last, this man responsible for killing Americans and many others will be subject to justice for his crimes.”
Breakthrough in the investigation
An important development in the investigation occurred in 2017 when U.S. officials obtained a copy of an interview Masud, a longtime explosives expert for the Libyan intelligence service, had given to Libyan law enforcement in 2012 after being detained following the fall of the country’s dictator, Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
Abu Agila Masud behind bars in Libya.
Image : Reuters.
According to U.S. officials, Masud acknowledged creating the device for the Pan Am attack and collaborating with two other conspirators to carry it out in that interview.
According to an FBI affidavit submitted in the case, he added that Gadhafi thanked him and the other team members after the strike and that the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence.
Masud would be the first Libyan intelligence official to go on trial in an American court, although he is currently the third to be charged in the US concerning the Lockerbie bombing.
How Masud came into U.S Custody?
U.S. authorities did not explain how Masud ended up in their custody, but local Libyan media claimed in late November that Masud had been abducted on November 16 from his home in Tripoli, the country’s capital, by armed men.
According to a family statement quoted in that report, Tripoli authorities were silent about the kidnapping.
On Nov. 21, Najla Mangoush, the foreign minister for the country’s Tripoli-based government, told the BBC in an interview,
When asked whether extradition was a possibility, Najla Mangoush, the foreign minister for the nation’s Tripoli-based government, said in an interview with the BBC that
“We, as a government, are very open in terms of collaboration in this matter.”
Libya’s lucrative human trafficking trade
Since 2011, Libya has been torn apart by civil war, with rival eastern and western governments, both supported by foreign donors and a large number of armed militias on the ground.
With the help of kidnappings and their participation in Libya’s lucrative human trafficking industry, militia groups have accumulated substantial cash and power.
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