London, Aug 20 (DPA) Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was whisked away from prison in Scotland Thursday to return to Libya following his release on health grounds.

Al-Megrahi was shifted from the Greenock prison near Glasgow by a convoy of police cars and ambulances barely two hours after the Scottish government confirmed its decision to release him.

He served just eight years of a life term imposed by a special court in the Netherlands in 2001 for the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over the town of Lockerbie in 1988, in which 270 people were killed.

Media and bystanders had gathered outside the jail to catch a glimpse of al-Megrahi, who was freed on the grounds that he is dying from cancer.

Some people lining the route shouted abuse and waved their fists at the convoy, making clear their anger at the controversial decision to free al-Megrahi.

A Libyan Airbus A340 despatched from Tripoli stood ready to fly him home later Thursday.