Man gets life sentences after conviction in Atlanta-linked terror plot

A Kenyan man has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms after being convicted by a federal jury for plans to conduct a terrorist attack in Atlanta.

Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 34, was sentenced this week to the two life sentences and a lifetime of supervised release, according to CBS News. A federal jury convicted Abdullah in November 2024 for conspiring to support the terrorist group al-Shabaab and plotting to hijack a commercial airline to crash it in a building on U.S. soil. 

Court records show that Abdullah focused his research around the Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta’s tallest building, and flights linked to Atlanta, according to Fox 5. 

The Manhattan jury found Abdullah guilty on six counts:

• Conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization
• Providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization
• Conspiring to murder U.S. nationals abroad
• Conspiring to commit aircraft piracy
• Conspiring to destroy aircraft
• Conspiring to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries

Federal prosecutors said that Abdullah joined al-Shabaab in 2015 and received extensive training in explosives. He began training as a commercial pilot in 2017 in the Philippines and was apprehended in 2019 on local charges. Abdullah was later transferred to U.S. law enforcement authorities, according to CBS News.

“Cholo Abdi Abdullah was a highly trained al-Shabaab operative who was dedicated to recreating the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks on behalf of a vicious terrorist organization,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “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. As he later admitted to the FBI, he was fully prepared to die in his terrorist attack.”