The Americans have released no details on how or where Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir al Marimi was detained, says Sky’s Mark Stone, making the latest developments somewhat murky.
Three sentences from the United States Department of Justice confirmed this key development in the story of Lockerbie.
“The United States has taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi.
“He is expected to make his initial appearance in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Additional details, including information regarding public access to the initial appearance, will be forthcoming.”
Masoud, as he’s known, was named in a 2020 US Department of Justice legal document as the man who made the bomb which blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1988.
He had been in the frame for many years before that as the technician behind the bomb.
According to the affidavit, Masoud worked alongside the two other men accused of the bombing – Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah.
The American government alleges that Masoud was a technical expert working for the Libyan Intelligence Service known as the External Security Organisation (ESO) which conducted operations against other nations and Libyan dissidents at the direction of the Libyan Government and sometimes at the direct orders of then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The US legal document claims Masoud worked as bomb maker for the ESO between 1973 and 2011.
It is alleged by the American Department of Justice that Masoud was ordered by his superiors to fly to Malta in December 1988 with a suitcase containing an explosive device.
In Malta, Masoud spent several days at a hotel preparing the device, setting a timer to explode exactly 11 hours later.
