A man who travelled to Syria intending to commit acts of terrorism and later returned to the UK has been jailed after an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Isa Giga, 32, previously of Hounslow, west London, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on 23 May 2024 after flying back from Turkey.
Met counter terrorism police were first notified in 2018 that Giga had travelled to Syria, via Turkey, to fight for Jaysh Al Fath – an alliance of Islamist armed factions involved in the Syrian civil war, which included an Al-Qaeda affiliated group.
He was convicted on 18 July of an offence contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, following a two-week trial at the Old Bailey.
The court heard that Giga had flown from Heathrow to Istanbul on 7 September 2015, before taking a connecting flight to Adana in southern Turkey and crossing the border into Syria.
Evidence gathered by officers included emails and social media messages from Giga’s family, which confirmed he had travelled to Syria to “fight for Jihad”. This was supported by flight records and bank transactions.
Further evidence came from messages Giga sent to an undercover officer on a social media platform in June 2016. In those messages, Giga said he “never knew about jihad until 2015” when ISIS took control of parts of Syria, and that he supported ‘Nusra’, part of the Jaysh Al Fath group. He also said he “wanted martyrdom very soon in the first row”, referring to fighting on the battlefield.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Anyone who returns to the UK after fighting for a terrorist group will be thoroughly investigated, no matter how long it has been since they left the country.
“We work very closely with other partners and agencies here in the UK and overseas in order to identify these individuals and keep the public safe.
“A Terrorism Act conviction will also be followed by strict notification requirements, ensuring we can monitor offenders closely, even after they are released from prison.”
Giga was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday, 17 October, to nine years in prison.
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