Skip to main content

Law Enforcement

FBI arrests Libyan operative charged in 1988 airline bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland

Libyan suspected of making bomb that downed airliner now in custody, being extradited to United States.

December 11, 2022 8:49am

Updated: December 11, 2022 10:24am

The FBI has arrested a Libyan intelligence operative suspected of making the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988 in one of the deadliest terror attacks in history, Scottish authorities announced Sunday.

The U.S. Justice Department confirmed the arrest of Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, announcing “he is expected to make his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.”

The arrest marks a four-decade hunt for Mas'ud, who was charged with making the bomb that killed 270 passengers, including 190 Americans.

In 2020, Trump Attorney General William P. Barr announced the criminal charges against him, five years after a PBS documentary made by one of the relatives of victims brought new scrutiny to the case and his alleged role.

Pan Am flight 103, traveling from London to New York, exploded over Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all aboard as well as 11 on the ground in the deadliest terror attack on British soil.