U.S. authorities have told the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government that Abu Agila Masud, a former Libyan intelligence officer suspected of being the Lockerbie bomb maker, was taken into custody “lawfully”.
Masud appeared in a federal court in Washington on Monday accused of building the bomb that downed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people.
In the Scottish Parliament today, Scotland’s Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain faced questions from lawmakers on the issue of how Masud came into custody in the U.S.
“The US authorities have confirmed that Mr Masud was transferred to US custody on a lawful basis, following upon US authorities making a formal extradition request for him from Libya to stand trial in the US in March 2021,” she said.
“I simply repeat that Scottish prosecutors and law enforcement stand ready to afford all possible co-operation to our US partners in accordance with the rule of law,” she added.
It is unclear how how the US negotiated Mr Masud’s extradition from Libya. Reports have said he was kidnapped by militia groups in Libya last month.