1988 Lockerbie Bomb Suspect Allegedly ‘Abducted From Home’ And Flown To Malta Before US Extradition
The Libyan man accused of producing the bomb that blew up a Boeing 747 plane that killed over 200 people onboard in 1988 has been extradited to the United States to finally face justice 34 years later.
However, the circumstances which led to his arrest are murky, with his family alleging he was kidnapped and flown to Malta before being taken to America.
Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, known as Masud, is the man who was named by a 2020 US Department of Justice legal document as the man who made the bomb that blew up the Pan Am 103 flight on 21st December 1988.
According to the report, Masud – who allegedly worked as a bomb maker for Libya’s intelligence service the External Security Organisation – was ordered to fly to Malta with a suitcase containing an explosive device.
After spending several days in a hotel on the island to prepare and set up the device, Masud allegedly handed the suitcase to a man on the morning of 21st December at Luqa airport.
That man – who worked as a security official for Libyan Arab Airlines – is said to have checked the suitcase onto an Air Malta flight to Frankfurt.
Investigators have since said the suitcase flew unaccompanied to Frankfurt before being transferred to Pan Am Flight 103A to London Heathrow.
Here, it was transferred onto Flight 103, with New York’s John F Kennedy airport being the ultimate destination. 38 minutes after take off, at 31,000 feet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, the bomb went off.
The 259 people on board were killed, with debris from the plane killing another 11 on the ground in Lockerbie.
To this day, this is seen as the most deadly terrorist attack on British soil, and with so many essential parts of the story happening in or around Malta, the horrific attack has always been at the forefront of many islanders’ minds.
Fast forward 34 years, and with one suspect being acquitted and another being let off early after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Masud was the third and final link left for the US justice system.
Last weekend, the US Department of Justice announced it had “taken custody” of Masud and that “he is expected to make his initial appearance in the US District Court for the District of Columbia”.
But with no details on how he had arrived in the US being given, it wasn’t long until fresh allegations were made, this time as to how he ended up on the other side of the Atlantic.
Speaking to The Guardian, officials with knowledge of the case said Masud was “seized at his home by forces loyal” to Abdel Ghan al-Kikili (known as Gheniwa), who commands Libya’s newest force the Stability Support Authority.
Accusing authorities of remaining silent on his abduction, Masud’s family went on to say that, while living in his home after serving a 10-year prison sentence earlier this year, he was taken to a military base in Misrata.
Here, what was described as a “team of Americans”, allegedly arrived, threw him into a private jet, and flew him to Malta before taking him to America.
And while the circumstances which led to Masud finally arriving in the US nearly three and a half decades after the horrific attack which he allegedly armed and enabled are still in contention and full of allegations on both sides, Malta’s presence in this latest update is somewhat poetic, considering the dark connection the islands have to this terrible saga.
What do you make of this latest connection?
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