NEW YORK — A Kenyan national was involved in planning an attack similar to the September 11 assaults on a U.S. structure and was learning to be a commercial pilot in the Philippines at the time of his arrest, as stated by a federal prosecutor during proceedings in New York on Tuesday.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jon Bodansky, the individual, Cholo Abdi Abdullah, spent four years devising a scheme intended to be executed on behalf of the terrorist group al-Shabab.
Bodansky informed the jury that Abdullah was nearing completion of his two-year pilot training program when he was apprehended in July 2019 on local charges in the Philippines. Subsequently, he was handed over to U.S. law enforcement in December 2020, where he was charged with offenses related to terrorism.
The prosecutor revealed that Abdullah had been trained in the use of explosives and developed skills for clandestine operations to avoid detection. He relocated to the Philippines in 2017 to pursue intensive pilot training.
While Abdullah was outwardly functioning as a commercial pilot trainee, his actual goal was to identify a target within the United States for a suicide mission, intending to crash his aircraft into a building, Bodansky noted to the jury.
The prosecutor emphasized that Abdullah had been plotting this 9/11-style operation for four years, only for his plans to be interrupted by his arrest.
Operating from a hotel in Nairobi, Abdullah allegedly utilized the internet to investigate methods for breaching cockpit doors and studied a 2019 terrorist incident that resulted in 21 fatalities. Notably, among the deceased was an American businessman who had previously survived the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
Prosecutors also indicated that Abdullah sought information on “the tallest building in a major U.S. city” prior to his capture.
Currently, Abdullah is acting as his own attorney and had previously entered a not guilty plea. He opted against delivering an opening statement and did not engage actively in questioning witnesses on Tuesday.
In documents submitted before the trial, prosecutors revealed that they understood through standby counsel that Abdullah prefers to “sit passively during the trial, not oppose the prosecution and whatever the outcome, he would accept the outcome because he does not believe that this is a legitimate system.”
The U.S. State Department designated al-Shabab, meaning “the youth” in Arabic, as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008. This militant group, an affiliate of al-Qaida, is engaged in an ongoing struggle to establish an Islamic regime in Somalia governed by Shariah law.
Should Abdullah be convicted, he is facing a minimum mandatory prison term of 20 years. The proceedings for his trial are anticipated to span three weeks.