A Kenyan man was convicted Monday for conspiring to hijack an aircraft in the U.S. and crash it into a building in an attack eerily reminiscent of the Sept. 11, 2001 assault.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah was found guilty by a jury on all six counts he faced related to the plot, which he planned to carry out on behalf of designated terrorist group al-Shabab, an al Qaida affiliate that aims to create an Islamic state in Somalia that adheres to Shariah law.
He had been arrested in 2019 in the Philippines after undergoing two years of flight training and earning a pilot’s license. He also researched “the means and methods to hijack a commercial airliner,” how to breach a cockpit door, and sought “information about the tallest building in a major U.S. city,” the Department of Justice said in a 19-page indictment unsealed in December 2020 after Abdullah was extradited to the U.S.
“This chilling callback to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al Shabab remain committed to killing U.S. citizens and attacking the United States,” the department said in a statement at the time.
Federal officials contended he spent four years plotting the attack, from getting trained in explosives to learning how to operate in secret and avoid detection.
Abdullah’s sentencing is scheduled for March, with a minimum of 20 years in prison expected.
At his trial, representing himself, Abdullah did not give an opening statement and did not question witnesses, as a way to forgo participating in a system he didn’t believe in.
With News Wire Services
Originally Published:
