Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 34, of Kenya, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in federal prison for conspiring to carry out a 9/11-style attack on behalf of the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Dec. 22.
Abdullah was convicted on Nov. 4, 2024, on charges including “conspiring to provide—and providing—material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft and commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.”
Abdullah was arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 and transferred to U.S. custody in 2020.
John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said Abdullah “sought to replicate the most horrific terrorist attack in our history, as he prepared to hijack a commercial airline to take down a building on U.S. soil.”
“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 stated.
Abdullah joined al-Shabaab in 2015, and between 2017 and 2019, he attended flight school in the Philippines, completing nearly all the requirements for a commercial pilot’s license. His training was financed by al-Shabaab, “a terrorist organization and al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia and active in other locations in East Africa,” which the United States government designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008, per the department.
Abdullah told the FBI he “was fully prepared to die in his terrorist attack,” according to Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The FBI said Abdullah conducted detailed research into cockpit security, airline procedures and potential targets, including researching “Delta flights,” which has a major U.S. hub in Atlanta, as well as tall buildings in the city, primarily the 55-story Bank of America Plaza.
During his training and research, Abdullah provided regular progress reports to al-Shabaab handlers describing his planning, the department stated.
