The U.S. has taken custody of the alleged bomb maker in the 1988 Lockerbie attack

A police officer walks by the nose of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field near the town of Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. (Martin Cleaver/AP)

U.S. authorities have apprehended a Libyan man suspected of constructing the bomb that destroyed a passenger plane over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people, including 190 Americans.

"The United States has taken custody of alleged Pan Am flight 103 bombmaker Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi," a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said in a statement to NPR.