WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2020) The United States has indicted an al-Shabab terrorist on charges of conspiring to hijack an aircraft for a September 11-style attack,� the US Justice Department said in a release on Wednesday.
"The Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah with six counts of terrorism-related offenses arising from his activities as an operative of the foreign terrorist organization al-Shabaab, including conspiring to hijack aircraft in order to conduct a 9/11-style attack in the United States.� Abdullah was arrested in July 2019 in the Philippines on local charges, and was subsequently transferred on Dec. 15, 2020," the release said.
Abdullah, a Kenyan national, is scheduled to appear before a US judge later on Wednesday in a New York City Federal court, the release said.
The Justice Department said Abdullah traveled to the Philippines where he enrolled in a flight schools from 2017 to 2019, ultimately completing tests to obtain a pilot's license. While there, he also researched hijacking techniques, including methods to breach the cockpit door of a commercial aircraft, and sought to identify the tallest buildings in several US cities as well as information on how to obtain a US visa, the release said.
If convicted, Abdullah faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years on charges that include providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to murder US nationals, conspiring to commit aircraft piracy, conspiring to destroy aircraft, and conspiring to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, according to the release.
Al Shabab, which serves as the principle arm of the al-Qaeda terrorist group (banned in Russia) in East Africa, has launched a series of terrorist strikes including a January 2019 strike on a Nairobi, Kenya hotel, which, including a US citizen who survived al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City.
