Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi was arrested and will be charged for his alleged involvement in the 1988 Lockerbie attack, according to the Justice Department.
According to the Justice Department, Mas’ud served as a long-time agent for Libyan intelligence, including work as a specialist in making explosive devices from roughly 1973 until 2011. A Libyan intelligence official instructed him to go to Malta in the winter of 1988 with a bomb concealed in a suitcase that would later detonate on Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 people.
According to the Justice Department, Mas’ud transported the device to the airport, set a timer for it to detonate on the plane the following day, and passed it off to a co-conspirator who put it on a conveyer belt headed for the aircraft.
Since he was indicted for his involvement in the attack in 2001, only former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi has been found guilty of the bombing. After that, he did not challenge his conviction, but in 2009, he was granted early release due to his terminal cancer diagnosis. He passed away in Libya in 2012 while continuing to live his entire life guilt-free.
However, an important development in the inquiry in 2017 brought detectives to Mas’ud, who, in an interview with Libyan law enforcement after the fall of the country’s dictatorship of leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi admitted making the bomb used in the Pan Am attack.
According to American sources, Mas’ud acknowledged in the interview that Libyan intelligence had ordered the attack and that Gadhafi personally praised him and the other participants for their contributions.
At the time of the bombing’s 32nd anniversary in 2020, the Justice Department issued charges against Mas’ud.
When the indictments were revealed, William Barr, the attorney general at the time, remarked, “At last, this guy who killed Americans and countless others will be subject to punishment for his crimes.”
The deadliest terror act to occur on British soil was committed by Pan Am Flight 103, traveling from London to New York, when it exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, killing all 259 aboard and 11 people on the ground. The incident claimed the lives of more than 100 Americans.
The first suspect to go on trial for the attack on American soil will be Mas’ud.
“He is anticipated to make his first court appearance in the District of Columbia’s U.S. District Court. Additional information, such as information on how the public can view the initial appearance, would be provided “a representative for the DOJ informed Fox News.
