Federal Prosecutors Detail Years-Long Plot and Terrorist Ties
A Kenyan man with alleged ties to the al-Shabab terrorist organization is on trial in New York, accused of plotting a 9/11-style suicide attack against a U.S. building. Cholo Abdi Abdullah, who trained as a commercial pilot in the Philippines, faces terrorism-related charges after being apprehended in 2019, halting what federal prosecutors say was a years-long plot to target a major U.S. structure.
Prosecutor Describes Plans for a High-Impact Attack
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jon Bodansky told the Manhattan jury that Abdullah’s plot spanned four years. The prosecutor outlined how Abdullah began preparing in 2017, immersing himself in training with a focus on commercial aviation and learning how to evade detection. By 2019, Abdullah was nearing the end of his training when he was arrested in the Philippines and later transferred to the United States, where he was charged with multiple terrorism offenses.
“Abdullah posed as an aspiring commercial pilot,” Bodansky said, “while secretly planning a suicide attack from the cockpit, intending to slam a plane into a U.S. building.” His plans reportedly included specific online research on how to breach a cockpit door and identify the tallest buildings in major U.S. cities.
Online Research Links Abdullah to Other Terrorist Attacks
The prosecution alleges that Abdullah used the internet to search for details about the 2019 terrorist attack in Nairobi that left 21 people dead, including an American survivor of the September 11 attacks. Investigators also discovered Abdullah’s online searches related to prominent U.S. buildings, raising concerns about his target selection process.
Prosecutors argued that Abdullah’s internet activity and prolonged training were part of his deliberate steps toward a “high-impact suicide mission.”
Defendant’s Passive Stance Raises Questions
Abdullah is representing himself in court, declining to participate actively in his defense. Court documents indicate that he intends to sit passively throughout the trial. “The defendant maintains that he ‘wants to merely sit passively during the trial,’” prosecutors noted in pre-trial filings. According to the documents, Abdullah has expressed that he does not view the court system as legitimate, adding an unusual element to the proceedings.
Al-Shabab Affiliation and Consequences if Convicted
The militant group al-Shabab, linked to al-Qaida, has been designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization since 2008. The group, whose name means “the youth” in Arabic, has sought to impose an Islamic state in Somalia, with a history of violence and insurgency in East Africa.
If convicted, Abdullah faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison. His trial, which is expected to last three weeks, underscores the reach of terrorist organizations and the complexity of international terror plots thwarted by law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide.
