Alleged Lockerbie bombmaker due in US court

WASHINGTON — The Libyan accused of making the bomb that destroyed a Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people, is to appear in a US court in Washington on Monday, Justice Department officials said.

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, who allegedly worked as an intelligence agent for the regime of former Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi, was charged by the United States two years ago for the Lockerbie bombing, which killed 190 Americans.

After arriving in the United States, Masud was taken to a facility in Alexandria, Virginia, for initial processing, where his mug shot was taken, the officials said.

He is to appear on Monday afternoon in federal court in the nation’s capital for an initial hearing.

Scottish prosecutors announced on Sunday that Masud was in American hands, but provided no details on how he had been transferred to US custody.

Masud had been reportedly imprisoned in Libya for his alleged involvement in attacks on Libyan opposition figures in 2011.

Only one person has been convicted for the December 21, 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which remains the deadliest terror attack ever on British soil.

The New York-bound aircraft was blown up 38 minutes after it took off from London, sending the main fuselage plunging to the ground in the town of Lockerbie and spreading debris over a vast area.

The bombing killed all 259 people on the jumbo jet and 11 people on the ground.

Two Libyans — Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah — were charged with the bombing and put on trial in The Netherlands.

Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison after his conviction in 2001 while Fhimah was acquitted.

Megrahi died in Libya in 2012, always maintaining his innocence.

His family lodged a bid for a posthumous appeal to clear his name in 2017, but Scotland’s high court upheld his conviction in 2021.

‘Qadhafi thanked him’ 

Masud’s fate has been tied up in the warring factionalism of Libyan politics.

According to a September 2015 article in The New Yorker, Masud was sentenced that year to 10 years in prison in Libya after being accused of using remote-detonated bombs against Libyan opposition members in 2011.

The Lockerbie investigation was relaunched in 2016 when Washington learned of Masud’s arrest, following Qadhafi’s ouster and death in 2011, and his reported confession of involvement to the new Libyan regime in 2012.

According to an affidavit from an FBI agent involved in the probe, Masud worked as a “technical expert” for Libya’s External Security Organisation, building explosive devices and earning the rank of colonel.

Masud confessed in a September 2012 interview with a Libyan law enforcement officer to assembling the bomb that brought down the Pan Am jet, the affidavit said.

“Masud confirmed that the bombing operation of Pan Am Flight 103 was ordered by Libyan intelligence leadership,” it said.

“Masud confirmed that after the operation, Qadhafi thanked him and other members of the team for their successful attack on the United States.”

According to the FBI agent’s affidavit, Masud also admitted to committing the April 1986 bombing of the LaBelle Discotheque in Berlin which killed two US service members and a Turkish woman.

Families of the Lockerbie victims thanked US and British law enforcement officials following the news of Masud’s arrest.

“Our loved ones will never be forgotten, and those who are responsible for their murder on December 21, 1988 must face justice,” they said in a statement.