Suspected Lockerbie bomber in US custody

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) - A suspect accused of being behind the Lockerbie bombing, which blew up the Pan Am flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988, is under US custody, Scottish authorities said on Sunday.

“The families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'udKheir Al-Marimi ("Mas'ud" or "Masoud") is in US custody,” the BBC cited a spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as saying.

"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.”

The blast on board the Boeing 747 left 270 people dead.

All 259 passengers and crew on board the jumbo jet bound to New York from London died while another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie, a town in southwestern Scotland, when wreckage destroyed their homes.

It is said that the suspect had been kidnapped by a militia group in Libya, and then handed over to US authorities.