An al-Shabaab terrorist is facing life in prison for plotting a “9/11-style” attack.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a 34-year-old Kenyan national, was sentenced on December 22 to two life terms in prison, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. He was found guilty of supporting al-Shabaab – a Somali affiliate of al-Qaeda – and plotting to commit a terror attack similar to 9/11.
“Abdullah, an al-Shabaab terrorist, sought to replicate the most horrific terrorist attack in our history, as he prepared to hijack a commercial airliner to take down a building on U.S. soil,” said Asst. AG for National Security John Eisenberg in the release. “We thwarted this plot due to the relentless efforts of U.S. law enforcement and thereby likely saved many innocent lives.”
Abdullah was found guilty on November 4, 2024, for six counts: conspiring to provide support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing said support, conspiring to murder Americans abroad, conspiring to commit aircraft piracy, conspiring to destroy aircraft, and conspiring to commit terrorism transcending national boundaries.
“His life sentence is a powerful reminder that those who plot attacks against the United States will be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Eisenberg said.
Radical Islamic Goals
The terrorist group al-Shabaab is based in Somalia and is active across East Africa, according to the release. Its full name is “Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen,” and it uses violence – like assassinations, suicide bombings, and attacks on civilians in places like hotels, beaches, restaurants, and more.
“Those goals include al-Qaeda’s broader objective to overthrow the U.S. government and create an Islamic caliphate,” the release reads.
The leader of al-Shabaab swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s successor in 2012, merging the group with al-Qaeda. After America declared the group a terrorist organization in 2008, it repeatedly threatened to target Americans.
Al-Shabaab has launched numerous prolific terror attacks in the past, according to the National Counterterrorism Center. Past attacks include a 2013 assault on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Kenya, which claimed 67 lives, a 2014 attack against a restaurant popular with Westerners in Djibouti, and a 2015 massacre at a university in Kenya that killed 150 students who were mostly Christian.
Investigative journalist Christoper Rufo exposed that Somali fraudsters in Minnesota have funneled upwards of $80 million in taxpayer dollars to al-Shabaab through state welfare programs, as The Dallas Express reported. The state began moving to shut down the program on August 1, and it officially closed its doors on October 31.
‘I Should Apply For The Airlines’
Abdullah joined al-Shabaab in 2015 and spent roughly one year at safehouses in Somalia, where he worked with “high-ranking” members of the terror group, according to the release. He received military training on how to fire machine guns and create explosives.
Senior al-Shabaab operatives recruited him for a “greater plan” which was “bigger than the fighting and the explosives” – to become a pilot, hijack an airliner, and crash it into a building in America.
Abdullah enrolled in a flight school in the Philippines from October 2017 to July 2019, spending hundreds of hours training to become a commercial pilot. Al-Shabaab paid for the tuition through an extortion system in Somalia that it calls “taxation.”
While training, Abdullah continued to research attack plans, according to the release. In December 2018, he looked up how to open airplane cockpit doors from the outside, whether air marshals are on every flight, and whether pilots carry guns in the cockpits. He even considered whether he could bring a knife on board.
An al-Shabaab handler then briefed Abdullah in January 2019 about the “DusitD2 Attack” the same month, where a suicide bomber blew up in front of an American at a hotel. Four others then attacked the premises, killing more than 20 other victims in total. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility, bragging the attack was “successful, by the grace of Allah, and resulted in the deaths of more than 50 disbelievers, including Americans and other Western nationals.”
Abdullah’s handler also helped coordinate the DusitD2 Attack and said a friend had died “for the cause” during the assault.
The suspect began researching the DusitD2 Attack online, then looked up “Delta flights” and “Tallest building in Atlanta,” according to the release. He specifically focused on the Bank of America Plaza, a 55-story building standing 1,023 feet tall.
Abdullah reported to his al-Shabaab handler throughout flight training, describing how he had taken flights to determine which seats had the best view of the flight deck door.
“Brothers during 9/11 did something completely unexpected in a more creative way, ‘study for piloting,’” he said to the handler. “The only successful hijack after 9/11 was the one of the Ethiopian Airlines and it is so because it was hijacked by the pilot himself.”
He concluded that for a “very successful mission, we need a pilot in the cockpit,” meaning he decided “I should apply for the airlines,” according to the release.
When authorities arrested Abdullah in the Philippines in July 2019, he had completed all but one of the requirements for a commercial pilot license. He had nearly completed the “instrument rating” to become a pilot with a “major airline.” Abdullah had even researched transit visas to enter America.
Abdullah later admitted to FBI agents he was training to become a pilot for al-Shabaab so that he could hijack a plane. He admitted he expected to kill – and die – during the attack.
“Cholo Abdi Abdullah was a highly trained al-Shabaab operative who was dedicated to recreating the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks on behalf of a vicious terrorist organization,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “He was fully prepared to die in his terrorist attack.”
The FBI-New York Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated this case, with members from the FBI and the New York Police Department. The Department of War, FBI Counterterrorism Division, FBI Legal Attaches overseas, the DOJ Counterterrorism Section, the DOJ Office of International Affairs, and New York State Police also assisted – alongside the Kenyan Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
“Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist and trained pilot Cholo Abdullah was justly punished today for his plotting to commit a 9/11-style terrorist attack,” said FBI Asst. Director in Charge Christopher Raia in the release. “This case serves as reminder individuals still wish to inflict violence upon our country in the name of the terrorism.”
