Teen jailed after police catch with him step-by-step terrorist guide and beheading videos on his phone on his way to join ISIS
Cubeyda Jama, 19, was arrested at Stanstead airport as he tried to make his journey to join the Islamic State terror group
A radicalised teenager, caught trying to go to Syria with a step-by-step guide on how to be a terrorist, has been jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Cubeyda Jama, 19, was arrested at Stanstead airport as he tried to make his journey to join the Islamic State terror group.
The Middlesex University student’s baggage was packed with terrorist materials and survival gear.
It included a phone with videos of ISIS beheadings, a laptop, a map of Turkey and a USB stick which contained a declaration of loyalty to the Islamic State.
Jama was trying to board a flight en-route to Bucharest, Romania, on February 5.
The onward journey he planned from the country is not known, but it is suspected he was going to travel through Turkey, which is a common route from Western radicals journeying to join ISIS.
He used his student loan to buy equipment for the trip, including a laptop and maps of Turkey, and booked a one-way flight for February 5 this year.
Jama's laptop was later found to include the Google searches, "How to reach the Syrian border", "Paths to ISIS" and "How to get ISIS," a court heard.
But Jama, of London Road, Thornton Heath, south London, was detained after officers raided the plane before take-off and searched his luggage.
The London-based Finnish student admitted a charge of preparing acts of terrorism by making travel arrangements and gathering equipment to travel to Syria or Iraq.
Jama, who appeared at the Old Bailey wearing black-rimmed glasses, a blue jumper over a red checked shirt and black jeans, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in a young offenders institution and given an additional one-year licence period.
In sentencing him, Judge Gerald Gordon said: Sentencing Jama today, Judge Gerald Gordon said: "You are described by the psychologist as naïve, and I think that is right.
"Having looked at your background you were, in my view, an obvious risk of radicalisation, be it self-radicalisation via the internet, radicalisation through others, or a combination of the two.
"And that is exactly what happened.
"A number of electronic devices were found, many of the items of the type found in the possession of those intending and preparing to embark upon terrorism, here or abroad.
"Amongst the items on your electronic equipment were videos including those of an extreme nature, indeed, beheading videos."
Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, said:
"Jama had a step-by-step guide to fighting for Daesh and many items which could be used by aspiring terrorists, as listed in the guide.
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"He had trawled through reams of terrorist material and there is no doubt in my mind what his intentions were if he had made it to Syria.
"By working so effectively with Essex Police, we ensured he did not make that journey.
"Today's sentence should serve as a timely reminder to anyone thinking of travelling for the purposes of terrorism."