- The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killed 270 people
- Abdul Basset al Megrahi is only person to be convicted of Lockerbie bombing
- Abu Agila Masud is accused of being the bombmaker behind the terror attack
A Libyan man accused of being the bombmaker behind the Lockerbie bombing is in custody in the US.
Abu Agila Masud was today being held by the Americans on suspicion of playing the key role in destroying the Pan Am flight 103 34 years ago.
The explosion on board the Boeing 747 left 270 people dead and is still the deadliest terror attack to have ever happened in Britain.
It was announced by the Scottish authorities in a statement from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, which said: ‘The families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi (‘Mas’ud’ or ‘Masoud’) is in US custody.
‘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.’
It came a month after reports Masud had been kidnapped by a militia group in Libya.
Abdul Basset al Megrahi is the only person to be convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.
He was jailed for life but was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in 2009 after being diagnosed with cancer and died in Libya in 2012.
The Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from London on December 21, 1988, en route to New York City and then Detroit.
Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after a semester abroad.