A Batley man has today been sentenced to six years for terrorism offences at Leeds Crown Court.
Ghulam Hussain, 30, of Track Road, pleaded guilty last month to two offences under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006: preparation of terrorist acts.
Following an investigation by the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, Hussain was arrested on November 2, 2016 and was charged on November 7.
The investigation discovered that Hussain had made travel arrangements including purchasing airline tickets and had obtained credit cards fraudulently.
Hussain disclosed to an undercover officer that his intention was to join Daesh (also known as ‘ISIS’, ‘ISIL’, ‘IS’) to fight in Syria and the money from the credit cards would fund this activity.
Hussain was also charged with providing money and advice to an undercover officer, the intention being to assist another to commit an act of terrorism.
Det Supt Simon Atkinson said: “This has been a detailed and thorough investigation, which led to the defendant pleading guilty in light of the weight of evidence against him.
“This case highlights the way extremists reach out to each other and over a relatively short period of time can encourage others to commit offences; on this occasion to encourage a British citizen to travel to Syria to fight, train and live.
“It is also a further example of how the UK police and security and intelligence services are working tirelessly using a range of tactics to confront the terrorist threat and keep the public safe.
“We work hard to stop people becoming radicalised online and we rely on the public for information. We urge anyone who has concerns that a loved one may be being radicalised or wanting to travel to a conflict zone to contact us on 101.”
Visit www.gov.uk/ACT to report suspicious activity.
