The younger brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi is being extradited back to the UK from Libya.
Hashem Abedi has been flown out of the country, reportedly on a private plane.
The M.E.N. understands the families of those killed in the attack were told of the arrangements beforehand.
An extradition request was first lodged in November, 2017.
A pre-inquest review into the 22 deaths at the Arena, held in October last year, was told criminal charges against Hashem have been authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, but he remained in Libya.
The charges are 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to cause an explosion.
Salman Abedi detonated a rucksack bomb in a foyer area of the Arena on May 22, 2017, after an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 people and injuring many hundreds more.
The brothers are understood to have travelled to Libya in the April of 2017 before Salman returned to Manchester.
Hashem was detained in Libya shortly after the atrocity.
He is understood to have been handed over to British authorities at Mitiga Airport and put on a plane to the UK on Wednesday (July 17).
The handover involved a special security team from Britain and a senior official from the embassy, according to reports.
The force that was holding him in the Libyan capital confirmed he was on his way back to the UK.
A spokesman for the Tripoli-based Special Deterrence Force (Rada) said: "I confirm you that Hashem [Abedi] is now in the air on his way to the UK. He is extradited in accordance to a court verdict."
It is understood that in past months, Hashem has been days away from extradition, but the process collapsed.
In a statement today, Greater Manchester Police said: "We are still awaiting the outcome of the CPS request for Hashem Abedi's extradition from Libya.
"The extradition proceedings are in progress and we are grateful to the Libyan Authorities for considering our extradition request.
"As proceedings are ongoing, it is essential that we respect the Libyan legal process and therefore we cannot provide any further detail at this time."
The Home Office has reportedly issued no comment.
