New York federal prosecutors have indicted a Kenyan man that allegedly contacted a “senior al-Shabab commander,” looked for information on "the tallest building in a major U.S. city," and attended flight school in the Philippines while researching how to hijack a commercial airliner.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah faces six charges, including conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy, conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, and supplying material to support a foreign terrorist organization, according to The New York Times.
FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney told NBC News that “he obtained a pilot’s license overseas, learning how to hijack an aircraft for the purpose of causing a mass-casualty incident within our borders.”
According to prosecutors, Abdi Abdullah obtained his pilot’s license over the course of two or three years in the Philippines, and during that time he also allegedly researched information about hijacking a commercial airliner by gaining access to the cockpit, and looked for “information about the tallest building in a major U.S. city, and information about how to obtain a U.S. visa.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also said that Abdi Abdullah had allegedly been in contact with the same al-Shabab commander who planed the 2019 attack on a Nairobi hotel that killed 21 people.
Abdi Abdullah, who was held in custody by law enforcement in the Philippines starting on the first of July 2019, pleaded not guilty to all charges in federal court on Wednesday, after arriving in New York.
Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss told NBC, “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.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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