A lone-wolf operative of the African terrorist organization al- Shabaab planned a repeat of the September 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on New York City but was arrested by Philippine police before he could pull it off.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a Kenyan national and a member of the East Africa-based al-Shaabab, was extradited by the Philippines to the United States Tuesday and was immediately arrested by the FBI upon his arrival on U.S. soil. He was arrested in July 2019 in the Philippines on local charges.
The indictment brought against Abdullah by the U.S. Department of Justice charges the Kenyan with six counts of terrorism-related offenses arising from his activities as an operative of al Shabaab, including conspiring to hijack an aircraft to conduct a 9/11-style attack in the U.S.
The DoJ said Abdullah obtained pilot training in the Philippines and trained for the attack under the direction of a senior al-Shabaab commander who planned the 2019 attack on a Nairobi hotel that killed 21 people.
Abdullah researched security on commercial airliners and how to hijack an aircraft to conduct another 911 attack on a major U.S. city. He also researched how to breach a cockpit door, and went searching for information about the tallest building in "a major U.S. city."
Abdullah was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger in Manhattan federal court. The case was assigned to United States District Judge Analisa Torres.
"I plead not guilty to all the counts," said Abdullah during his arraignment. He was ordered held without bail and will return to court January 6.
Based in Somalia, al-Shabaab is an affiliate of al-Qaeda and has links with other terrorist jihadist organizations such as Boko Haram and al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb.
"This chilling callback to the horrific attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al-Shabaab remain committed to killing U.S. citizens and attacking the United States," said acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss.
"Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the FBI's global partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the world, Abdullah's plot was detected before he could achieve his deadly aspirations, and now he faces federal terrorism charges in a U.S. court."
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers said Abdullah's case, "which involved a plot to use an aircraft to kill innocent victims, reminds us of the deadly threat that radical Islamic terrorists continue to pose to our nation."
He said the case also highlights America's commitment to pursue and hold "accountable anybody who seeks to harm our country and our citizens. No matter where terrorists who plan to target Americans may be located, we will seek to identify them and bring them to justice."
