Long jail term for budding IS recruit in London

A Londoner who tried to sidestep authorities in his bid to join the IS group by changing his name has been jailed for nine years after his plan failed.

MENA

1 min read

The New Arab

10 March, 2017

A 22-year-old man from London was sentenced to nine years in prison on Friday, after attempting to join the Islamic State group in Syria.

Jabed Hussain, who pled guilty to two charges of preparation of terrorist acts in November, tried to join the IS group in Syria on two seperate occasions.

After a failed first attempt in August 2015, Hussain was detained by Turkish authorities at the Turkey-Syria border and returned to the UK.

The Londoner then changed his name to "Ishaq Jabir Hussain" and attempted to get another passport under the new identity. The attempt was unsuccessful, leading to his arrest in April 2016.

"Hussain made a concerted effort to get to Syria and intended to join ISIS [IS]. Changing his name was a poor attempt to evade the authorities which was always destined to fail," said Commander Dean Haydon of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.

Around 850 people have travelled to the Middle East from the UK with the intention of joining militant groups in Syria and Iraq, including IS.

Roughly half of that number are thought to have returned to the UK.