A Kenyan national has been sentenced to two consecutive life terms in a U.S. federal prison after being convicted of plotting a “9/11-style” terrorist attack targeting Atlanta’s tallest building.
The prosecutors stated that the man planned to hijack a commercial passenger aircraft and crash it into the Bank of America Plaza.
Investigators told the court that the plot was actively in motion, with detailed research conducted on airline operations, security procedures, and potential targets in the city.
According to the investigations, the suspect had joined the al-Shabaab militant group in Somalia in 2015 and spent about a year undergoing military training, including the use of firearms and explosives.
Senior operatives from the terrorist group later selected him for an international attack and instructed him to train as a pilot for commercial aircraft.
From 2017 to 2019, he attended a flight school in the Philippines, where he undertook his flight training. The training included classroom lessons, simulations, and flying lessons.
Prosecutors further added that his training was financed by al-Shabaab, which raised funds through extortion and other illegal trades.
By the time of his arrest, he had completed nearly all the requirements needed to fly for a major airline.
Investigators added that during the flight training period, he carried out online research, from studying cockpit doors, airline security protocols, and transit visa requirements to ways weapons could be smuggled onto aircraft.
He also analysed past hijacking attempts and sent progress reports to his handlers, outlining how a pilot already inside the cockpit would be critical to the success of the mission.
Documents presented in court further revealed that his planning intensified after learning about the al-Shabaab attack on a hotel complex in Nairobi. Later on, he searched online for Delta Air Lines flights and information about the tallest building in Atlanta, his focus being the downtown skyscraper as a potential target.
Authorities arrested him in the Philippines in July 2019 before the plan could be executed and later transferred him to U.S. custody.
During the interrogation, authorities said he admitted he was training to become a pilot so he could hijack a plane on behalf of the militant group and expected that many people, including himself, would die in the attack.
The federal jury convicted him on six terrorism-related charges, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation, aircraft piracy, and conspiring to murder U.S. nationals. In addition to the two life sentences, the court imposed a lifetime of supervised release.
