A Kenyan national has been found guilty and convicted for planning an attack on a United States building on behalf of the Al-Shabaab terror group.
Chodo Abdi Abdullah was found guilty on all six counts in the indictment, which included 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 transnational acts of terrorism.
During the trial, Abdullah represented himself and chose not to deliver an opening statement.
“The jury found that Cholo Abdi Abdullah, an operative of the terrorist organization al Shabaab, conspired to murder Americans in a terrorist attack reminiscent of the September 11 attack on our country,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
He added, “Today’s conviction ensures that Abdullah will spend decades in prison for his crimes. The Justice Department will never stop working to identify, investigate, and prosecute those who would use heinous acts of violence to harm the American people. It does not matter where terrorists hide, they will not evade the long arm of the law.”
The Kenyan national is due to be sentenced next March and faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison.
Abdullah was an operative for Al Shabaab and after training with the terror group for months with AK-47 assault rifles and explosives at a series of safe houses in Somalia, he participated in a plot to hijack a commercial aircraft and crash it into a building in the U.S.
The convict spent months at a flight school in the Philippines working toward a commercial pilot license and researched how to obtain pilot jobs, targets such as the tallest buildings in a major American city, transit visas to the U.S., and how to open a cockpit door from the outside.
Abdullah also sent encrypted messages reporting his progress to his al Shabaab handler, including his extensive research on post-September 11 hijackings.
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