A Kenyan national indicted this week for allegedly plotting an Islamic terrorist attack on Americans similar to that of the September 11, 2001, attacks sought a visa to the United States.
In an unsealed federal indictment, 30-year-old Kenyan national Cholo Abdi Abdullah was charged with six counts of terrorism relating to an alleged 9/11-style Islamic terrorist plot by al Shabaab against the U.S. that was foiled by New York and federal investigators.
Abdullah, according to the indictment, had sought a visa to the U.S. sometime in January and February of 2019.
“In or about January and February 2019, Abdullah researched online for, among other things, information about aircraft hijackings and how to obtain a U.S. visa,” the indictment reads.
Abdullah, as Breitbart News reported, had been enrolled in flight school in the Philippines between 2017 and 2019 “for the purpose of obtaining training for carrying out the 9/11-style attack,” Justice Department officials said in a release.
Abdullah was able to complete his training at the flight school to obtain his pilot’s license. At the same time, Adbullah was allegedly researching how to hijack an aircraft, learning about the tallest buildings in the U.S., and how to breach a cockpit of a commercial aircraft.
This week, Abdullah was extradited from the Phillippines to the U.S. where he faces terrorism charges in a Manhattan courtroom.
As Breitbart News has reported, foreign nationals have historically used the U.S. legal immigration system to help carry out attacks on Americans. In the 9/11 terrorist attacks, for instance, nearly half of the terrorists involved had overstayed their visas. All 19 terrorists were given visas to the U.S.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.