A man accused of one of the deadliest terror attacks against Americans is in a U.S. jail.
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi faces federal charges in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
The bomb exploded as the plane flew over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 people on board – including 190 Americans – as well as 11 people on the ground.
Masud – a Libyan intelligence officer under former President Moamar Gadhafi – reportedly admitted to Libyan authorities he made the bomb in 2012 and was working with two other conspirators to carry out the attack. He also said the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence and that Gadhafi thanked him and other members of the team after the attack, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.
The New York-bound Pan Am flight exploded over Lockerbie less than an hour after takeoff from London on Dec. 21, 1988. Citizens from 21 countries were killed. Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students flying home for Christmas after a semester abroad.
The Justice Department announced Sunday that Mas’ud had been taken into U.S. custody, two years after it revealed that it had charged him in connection with the explosion. The announcement of charges against Mas’ud on Dec. 21, 2020, came on the 32nd anniversary of the bombing and in the final days of the tenure of then-Attorney General William Barr.
Two other Libyan intelligence officials have also been charged in the U.S. for their alleged involvement in the attack.
Masud is scheduled to appear in a Washington, D.C. courtroom Monday afternoon.
***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN