Federal authorities have sealed an indictment accusing a Kenyan of attempting to launch an 11/11-style attack on the United States on behalf of the terrorist organization al-Shabab. Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 30, arrested in the Philippines in 2019, was transferred to U.S. custody on Tuesday on charges of conspiring to hijack a plane and shoot it down in a building.
Abdullah pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to CBS News senior research producer Pat Milton. He was videotaped in Manhattan federal court and is being held without bail.
Prosecutors said Abdullah received flight training in the Philippines and obtained a pilot’s license to prepare for an attack.
“This case, which involved a plot to use a plane to kill innocent victims, reminds us of the deadly threat that radical Islamic terrorists continue to pose to our nation,” the deputy national security attorney general said in a statement. John Demers.
Brochure / Criminal Investigation and Detection Group
Manhattan’s acting attorney, Audrey Strauss, described her as “terrifyingly backing away from the terrible attacks of September 11, 2001.”
Abdullah, according to prosecutors, began planning the attack in 2016 under the direction of an al-Shabab commander who was also involved in planning a deadly attack in 2019 at a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
The State Department has designated the al-Shabab-affiliated Somali-based militant group as a foreign terrorist organization.
He also investigated possible methods of kidnapping and how to obtain an American visa.
The name of a lawyer in the U.S. who could speak on behalf of Abdullah was not immediately available.