U.S. custody of Pan Am 103 bomb suspect is 'important step,' victims' group says
A group representing 270 victims of a 1988 terror attack, including more than a dozen from South Jersey, has welcomed an announcement that an accused bomb maker is in U.S. custody.
The development means “the pursuit of justice has taken an important step,” said Victims of Pan Am Flight 103.
“Our loved ones will never be forgotten, and those who are responsible for their murder on Dec. 21, 1988, must face justice,” the group said in a statement.
The organization is led by Kara Weipz, whose brother, 20-year-old Richard "Rick" Monetti of Cherry Hill, was among the victims of the midair explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The Justice Department on Sunday said the United States has taken custody of the alleged bomb maker Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi.
He was identified on second reference as Masud.
The suspect’s confession to a Libyan law enforcement official “makes him someone we truly want to see stand trial,” said the statement from the victims’ group. “We look forward to that trial.”
The terror attack killed all 259 people aboard the New York-bound flight and eleven people on the ground.
Among those killed were dozens of students returning home at the holiday season after a semester abroad.
They included Monetti, who attended Syracuse University, and Diane Rencevicz, 21, a Temple University student from Burlington City.
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The area’s youngest victim was 10-month-old Chelsea Woods of Willingboro, who died with parents Joe and Dedera and 2-year-old brother Joe Jr.
A Cherry Hill family of four — Robert and Martha Owens and their daughters Sarah, 14, and Laura, 8 — also perished in the attack.
Other victims included Michael Doyle, an accountant from Voorhees; Diane Maslowski, a Haddonfield native who worked in finance in London; and Margate businessman William Pugh.
In all, 33 victims aboard the plane were from New Jersey.
The Justice Department claims the attack on the plane was “planned by and executed by Libyan intelligence operatives.”
It alleges Masud gave a bomb in a suitcase to accomplices at an airport in Malta, where it was placed on a conveyor belt and loaded into Flight 103 on the morning of Dec. 21, 1988. The bomb exploded at 31,000 feet later that day, about 40 minutes after the flight took off from Heathrow Airport in London.
Masud met about three months later with the then-leader of Libya, Muamar Qaddafi, "who thanked them for carrying out a great national duty against the Americans, and ... added that the operation was a total success," the Justice Department said.
The United States charged Masud in December 2020, when he was in custody in Libya, with destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and destruction of a vehicle by means of an explosive resulting in death.
The charges are only allegations. Masud has not been convicted in the case.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Lockerbie bombing: Families of 33 NJ victims look for closure
