In American Custody is the Lockerbie Bomb Suspect. On Board the Fateful Airliner Were About 40 New Jersey Residents.

By Patrick Fitzgerald On Dec 12, 2022

The Justice Department announced on Sunday that a Libyan intelligence official who is suspected of creating the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988 as a result of terrorism has been taken into American custody and will face federal prosecution in Washington.

An important step has been taken in the decades-long inquiry into the attack that claimed the lives of 259 people in the air, including 38 New Jersey residents, and 11 individuals on the ground. Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-arrest. Marimi’s

On December 21, 1988, a Pan Am aircraft from London to New York detonated above Lockerbie, Scotland, less than an hour after departure. Among the 190 Americans on board were 35 Syracuse University students returning home for Christmas following a semester abroad.

Bert Ammerman, who lost his brother Thomas Joseph Ammerman, 36, in the blast, experienced some relief upon learning that Masud had been taken into custody.

“What information is he going to provide is crucial in this situation. Will he provide enough details to reveal who and how many people were actually involved in this heinous, terrible act? That’s the important part, according to River Vale resident Ammerman, who spoke with NJ Advance Media. “Now more of the truth—or most of it—can be revealed.”

In December 2020, American officials filed charges against Masud, who was being held in Libya. He would be the first Libyan intelligence official to face charges in an American courtroom, despite being the third to be accused in the US in relation to the attack.

More than ten years before the September 11 attacks, the bombing made clear the danger posed by global terrorism. It resulted in international inquiries and harsh fines while igniting the calls for accountability from the families of the victims.

One of the groups continuously advocating for justice is the group of Pan Am Flight 103 victims.

When she learned of the arrest, Mary Strapis, 74, of Montvale, who serves as the organization’s board chair, felt relieved. In the blast, she lost her 43-year-old husband, Elia G. Stratis.

According to Stratis, “We as a family group have learned during the previous month that (Masud) had been released from a Libyan prison.” And when we learned that, we were all devastated since we had no idea where he would go. However, we later learned that he had been found.

Since the bombing, the relatives of the Pan Am 103 victims have petitioned for increased airline security, and they continue to demand that government officials take better safety precautions and provide more details about the terrorist act. According to Stratis, they have long demanded a trial in the US.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former member of the Libyan intelligence service, was found guilty of blowing up the plane in 2001. He is the sole conspirator who has so far been found guilty. He was released in 2009 on compassionate grounds due to his terminal cancer after losing one appeal and giving up on another.

Al-Megrahi passed away in 2012 in Libya while adamantly defending his innocence. Al-Megrahi returned home to a hero’s reception, which Stratis said removed our justice. “Of course, our deceased loved ones are no longer with us, but we sought to achieve justice for both ourselves and those who were still alive. “This is another positive step toward learning the truth.”

When U.S. officials in 2017 obtained a record of an interview that Masud, a longstanding explosives expert for Libya’s intelligence service, had given to Libyan law enforcement five years earlier, it provided a breakthrough in the investigation. He was detained after the Col. Moammar Gadhafi-led government of the nation was overthrown.

According to U.S. officials, Masud acknowledged creating the device for the Pan Am attack and collaborating with two other conspirators to carry it out in that interview. According to an FBI affidavit submitted in the case, he added that Gadhafi thanked him and the other team members after the strike and that the operation was ordered by Libyan intelligence.

In a federal court in Washington, where he is charged with two crimes related to the explosion, the Justice Department said that Masud would show up soon.

It was not disclosed by American officials how Masud ended up in their custody. However, local Libyan media reported late last month that Masud had been taken hostage by armed men on November 16 from his home in Tripoli, the country’s capital. According to a family statement quoted in that report, Tripoli authorities were mute about the kidnapping.

The families of the victims are still affected by the Pan Am 103 assault. Stratis said that neither she nor their three children had recovered emotionally after Elia’s passing.

All of us have aged 34 years, she continued. “I am the event’s widow. On the aircraft was my husband. We all have advanced ages, including the parents of the pupils and young passengers. So, there is no need for us to wait years for this to occur. The trial needs to take place as soon as possible.

New Jersey