Lockerbie bombing suspect in custody in US

Scottish authorities have announced that a Libyan man accused of making the bomb in the Lockerbie bombings is in custody in the US.

Abu Agila Masud is accused of making the bomb which destroyed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. 270 people died in the deadliest terrorist attack to have taken place on British soil. The 259 passengers and crew on the Boeing 747 died, along with 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie.

The US announced charges against Masud two years ago and it was reported last month that he had been kidnapped by a militia group in Libya.

So far, only one man has been convicted over the attack. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of bombing the plane after a trial at a specially convened Scottish court in the Netherlands in 2001. He was jailed for life, but was released on compassionate grounds after a cancer diagnosis in 2009. He died in 2012 in Libya.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) 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."

Image: Mike McBey: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158652122@N02/46340090502