A former Libyan intelligence official accused of making the bomb that blew up Pan Am flight 103, a New York-bound passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, is now in U.S. custody. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud is facing federal charges in Washington D.C. for his role in allegedly setting the timer on a bomb that downed the Boeing 727 four days before Christmas, killing 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.
The flight included 40 New Jersey passengers and 35 Syracuse University students flying home for the holidays after a semester abroad. Mas’ud is accused of being the third man in the plot. Two others were prosecuted at the time. Mas’ud made his first appearance in an American courtroom Monday.
