Justice Department gets its hands on Lockerbie bombing defendant

The Department of Justice confirmed that they were able to take into custody the Libyan intelligence official accused of involvement in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on the United States.

Abu Agila Muhammad Masud Masud Jeir Al-Marimi is accused of making the bomb that exploded the Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 and which caused the death of a total of 270 people (259 people on board the aircraft and 11 Lockerbie residents).

"He is expected to make his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Additional details, including information regarding public access to the initial appearance, will be forthcoming," a Justice Department spokesperson anounced.

So far the only person convicted of the bombing of the plane from London to New York that exploded over Lockerbie was Abdel Baset al Megrahi. However, he was released in 2009, after Gaddafi's lobbying on the grounds that the prisoner had terminal cancer with a life expectancy of only a few months.

The terrorist still insisted that he was innocent and was welcomed in Libya as a hero. Megrahi eventually died in 2012.

Evidence against Masud

Now, Masud could be the second to be sentenced after authorities saw a copy of an interview with the Libyan official in which he admitted to making the bomb in the Pan Am attack.

It should be noted that legal experts have raised concerns about whether the confession obtained in a Libyan prison may be admissible as evidence, but U.S. authorities are apparently still investigating the case.

"Scottish prosecutors and police, working with UK government and U.S. colleagues, will continue to pursue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with al-Megrahi to justice," UK authorities said in a statement.