DOJ expected to unseal charges on new suspect in Pan Am Flight 103 bombing

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Prosecutors with the United States Justice Department are expected to unseal charges against a suspect in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 270 people, including 35 Syracuse University students. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the Justice Department is planning to unseal charges within days against alleged Libyan bomb-maker Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, a suspect in the bombing.

U.S. officials are expected to request Masud’s extradition so he can face trial in a federal court. The case is based on a confession Masud provided in 2012 to Libyan authorities, as well as his immigration and travel records.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer who died in 2012, is the only person who has been convicted of being involved in the terrorist attack.

The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing is the deadliest terrorist attack in the United Kingdom’s history. SU commemorates the victims of the attack during the university’s Remembrance Week, which will take place largely virtually this year due to the pandemic.

Monday will mark the 32nd anniversary of the bombing.