The Libyan intelligence agency man accused of bombing the Pan Am plane in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been arrested by the FBI and extradited to the United States, authorities in Scotland said today (Sunday). According to the report, his extradition was intended to prosecute him for involvement in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in American history,
The arrest of the intelligence agent, Abu Agila Muhammad Massoud, was part of a decades-long effort by the Ministry of Justice. In December 2020, the United States filed an indictment against him on the suspicion that he was a senior IED builder for the Gaddafi regime. According to the charges, Masoud was involved in the preparation of the charges in the attack on the La Belle Club in Berlin in 1986 and Pan American Flight 103.
After Adafi was ousted from power, Massoud admitted to senior officials in the Libyan justice system that he was behind the attack. After U.S. investigators learned of the confession in 2017, they questioned Libyan officials, which led to the reporter’s indictment. Although the extradition would allow him to be prosecuted, legal experts expressed doubts whether his confession, obtained in a Libyan prison, would be admissible as evidence.
In the investigation of the incident, it was determined that approximately 450 grams of plastic explosive material exploded in the front luggage compartment of the plane and led to the rapid disintegration of the plane in the air. The plane fell to the ground within a minute of the explosion. The investigation revealed that the explosive was hidden in a hard suitcase, inside a radio. A direct link to the Libyan government was also discovered to be responsible for the attack.
In 1992 and 1994, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Libya in order to put pressure on the government to cooperate with the investigation of the explosion. The sanctions included a ban on flights to and from Libya, an arms embargo and a boycott of oil products and financial assets. The sanctions were suspended in 1999 after Libya was closed for a second trial. Suspects in the bombing, but Libya demanded that the sanctions be officially lifted and not just suspended. The two Libyans were put on trial in Scotland in 2001. One of them was found innocent, and the other, Abdelbast al-Magrahi, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In August 2009, El Megharhi was pardoned by the Scottish Minister of Justice, after serving only eight years in prison. The reason for the official amnesty was his difficult health condition. Various speculations linked the tribute to the economic relations forged between Libya, which is rich in oil and gas, and Britain. The British government did not comment on the decision of the Scottish judiciary, while the American government strongly condemned it. Magrihi died in May 2012, about three years after his release.
As you may recall, Pan American Flight 103, known as the Lockerbie disaster, was the passenger flight operated by Pan Am from Heathrow Airport in London to Kennedy Airport in New York. After about an hour in the air, the plane exploded at an altitude of 31,000 feet and crashed. All 259 people on board were killed and 11 Lockerbie residents were killed on the ground.