Group of teenage jihadis who prepared to fight for ISIS with paintball were arrested after school tip-off
A group of teenage jihadists who planned to travel to Syria to fight for Isis were arrested after their school notified anti-terror police.
Ahmedeltigani Alsyed, 20, and Yusef Alsyed, 18, from Feltham, Middlesex, have admitted terror charges, while Mohammed Ali and an unnamed 17-year-old were jailed at earlier hearings.
Woolwich Crown Court was told on Thursday (11 January) that the brothers prepared for jihad with paintball sessions and took out gym subscription to “increase their fitness”.
The unnamed 17-year-old worked as a Deliveroo driver and had planned to sell his Playstation to fund his trip to Syria.
While 18-year-old Ali booked plane tickets and travel documents and believed that his death would “achieve martyrdom”, reported the Daily Mail.
The Met’s counter-terror unit investigated their plans after assessing online communications on encrypted messaging app Telegram.
Under a group called “Peace” the group prepared for their trip until they were arrested in January 2017 ahead of their trip to Turkey on 14 February.
Yusef told Ali in one message: “if you get martyrdom before me please tell Allah I love him”.
The gang had contacted a terrorist fixer in Yemen, discussing how to travel to Syria or Libya, and packed camping gear in preparation for the trip.
According to the Daily Mail prosecutor Annabell Darlow, QC, said Yusuf, 18, came to the attention of police through the government anti-extremism programme Prevent.
The prosecution said that Ali had a “very sad and very traumatic childhood” whose friend told authorities about his plans to leave the UK.
The Alsyed brothers admitted preparing to commit acts of terrorism, disseminating a terrorist publication and possessing information likely to be useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism.
Ahmedeltigani also admitted possessing information likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism. They will be sentenced on 9 March.
Ali and the 17-year-old admitted preparing acts of terrorism at an earlier hearing although they told the court they wanted to fight for other extremists, not Isis.
Ali was jailed for four years and two months and the 17-year-old was detained for two years and eight months at the Old Bailey last November.
Source: IBT
