In July 2019, as Abdullah was nearing the end of his two-year pilot training in the Philippines, he found himself in hot water with local authorities, getting pinched on a range of charges. Fast forward to December 2020, and he was handed over to U.S. authorities who had terrorism accusations lined up against him.
The prosecutor revealed that before heading to the Philippines in 2017 for extensive pilot training, Abdullah had undergone lessons in explosives and stealth operations to keep under the radar.
“While masquerading as an eager commercial pilot,” Bodansky explained to the jury, “Abdullah’s real plan was sinister—he aimed to crash-land an aircraft into a U.S. structure akin to a kamikaze mission.”
For four years, Abdullah was allegedly “scheming a reprise of 9/11,” yet his conspiracy was derailed by his arrest, Bodansky asserted.
From his Nairobi hotel room, Abdullah was said to be diving deep into online rabbit holes—researching tactics for breaking into cockpit doors and revisiting details of a 2019 terrorist strike that claimed around 21 lives. Intriguingly, the victims included an American entrepreneur who had once escaped the horrors of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.
Further, prosecutors revealed that Abdullah had been digging up data about “the tallest skyscraper in a bustling U.S. metropolis” before his plans were foiled.
Representing himself in court, Abdullah, who previously entered a not-guilty plea, opted not to deliver any opening statements nor engage in the cross-examination of witnesses as proceedings unfolded on Tuesday.
Prior to the trial, court documents indicated that prosecutors had been informed by standby counsel about Abdullah’s intentions. The defendant purportedly expressed a desire to “remain a mere observer during the trial without resistance, accepting any verdict since he views the judicial process as illegitimate.”
Back in 2008, the State Department had labeled al-Shabab—a term meaning “the youth” in Arabic—as a foreign terrorist group. This militant faction, identified as an al-Qaida ally, has been struggling to impose an Islamic regime in Somalia under strict Shariah principles.
Should the gavel come down on a guilty judgment, Abdullah could be looking at no less than 20 years behind bars, with the trial predicted to extend over three weeks.
Edited by: Ali Musa
alimusa@axadletimes.com
Axadle international–Monitoring
