A United States federal court charged a Kenyan national on Wednesday, December 16th for conspiracy to hijack aircraft for purposes of staging a 9/11 like attack on an unidentified skyscraper.
Cholo Abdi Abdullahi was accused by the federal prosecutors for conducting surveillance on behalf of Al-Shabaab, an East Africa based terror group.
The prosecution argued that the suspect had been receiving orders from a high-ranking officer in the terror group to harmonize the attack plans.
On September 11th 2001, the al-Qaeda terror group staged a similar attack in New York killing 3000 people and leaving many others with life-long injuries.
The prosecutors directly linked Cholo Abdi Abdullahi to the Nairobi’s Dusit D2 Hotel attack that claimed over twenty people in January 2019.
After denying the six counts of charges filed against him, the judge sent him back to the cells without bail.
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Cholo Abdi was apprehended in the Philippines back in July 2019 for planning to commit a terrorist act on the American soil.
The prosecution is also convinced that at the time of his arrest, Abdi owned a bomb and assorted bomb-making equipment.
Commenting on the prosecution, The FBI Assistant Director, William Sweeney expressed his concerns at the un-ending determination by the terrorist organizations to attack the United States.
“It is twenty years since 9/11, and these gangs are still determined to harm the American people” he lamented.
The FBI boss disclosed that the suspect had enrolled for training in a flight school for the sole purpose of acquiring the skills to commit such acts of terror.
He alleged that the flight training was focused on horning Abdullah’s skills to execute a mass-casualty occurrence in the US.
Cholo Abdi Abdullahi risks 20 years in jail or a life sentence if found guilty.
