A man affiliated with al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda group in Somalia, was sentenced to life in prison Monday for plotting to carry out a "9/11-style" plane hijacking and attack in downtown Atlanta.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a 34-year-old Kenya national, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for convictions that include conspiring to provide material to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring to commit aircraft piracy, destroy aircraft and commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, according to the Department of Justice.
Abdullah was convicted in a jury trial on Nov. 4, 2024. He was first arrested in July 2019 during flight training in the Philippines, and was transferred to American custody in December 2020.
Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, commonly called al-Shabaab, is a terrorist organization operating out of Somalia and eastern Africa. The leader of the group swore allegiance to al Qaeda in 2012 following the death of Osama bin Laden, according to the DOJ.
The organization released a statement in 2008, shortly after the United States deemed al-Shabaab a terrorist organization, declaring intent to target the United States, and that the group's "fighters" would hunt down members of the government.
