WASHINGTON: A Kenyan member of the Al-Shabab militant group who received pilot training in the Philippines was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for conspiring to mount a 9/11-style attack in the United States.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah was convicted last year of conspiring to murder US nationals, conspiring to commit aircraft piracy and other offenses.
“Cholo Abdi Abdullah was a highly trained Al-Shabab operative who was dedicated to recreating the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks on behalf of a vicious terrorist organization,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement.
“Abdullah pursued his commercial pilot license at a flight school in the Philippines while conducting extensive attack planning on how to hijack a commercial plane and crash it into a building in America,” Clayton said.
Abdullah was arrested in the Philippines in July 2019 and extradited to the United States.
