Lockerbie plane bombing suspect taken into US custody

LONDON /WASHINGTON: A Libyan man accused of making the bomb that killed 270 people after it blew up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988 is in custody in the United States, Scottish and US law enforcement officials said on Sunday.

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi was taken into custody about two years after former US Attorney General Bill Barr first announced the United States filed charges against him.

A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed to Reuters on Sunday that the United States has custody of the suspect. Mas’ud is expected to make his initial court appearance in a federal court in Washington.

Details about the timing of the hearing will be forthcoming, the spokesperson added.

Court documents described Mas’ud as an expert bombmaker who joined Libya’s External Security Organization intelligence service in the 1970s and took part in a number of operations outside Libya, reaching the rank of colonel.