Man who travelled to Syria convicted of terrorism offence

A man has been convicted of travelling to Syria with the intention of committing acts of terrorism, following an investigation by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.

Isa Giga, 32 (11.02.1993), previously of Hounslow, west London, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on 23 May 2024 after he caught a flight back from Turkey.

Met counter terrorism police had been notified in 2018 that Giga had travelled to Syria, via Turkey, to fight for the Jaysh Al Fath group, which was part of an alliance of Islamist armed factions fighting in the Syrian civil war, including an Al-Qaeda affiliated group.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command said: "We have been clear for some time now that anyone returning to the UK suspected of being involved in any terrorist-related activity overseas will be thoroughly investigated.

We work very closely with other partners and agencies here in the UK and overseas in order to do this and help keep the public safe.

“As this case shows, we will always arrest those who return to the UK after fighting for a terrorist group, no matter how long it has been since they left the country. "

Giga was convicted on 18 July of an offence contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act, 2006 after a two-week trial at the Old Bailey.

The jury heard Giga flew from Heathrow to Istanbul on 7 September 2015 and then took a connecting flight to Adana in the south of Turkey. From there he crossed the border into Syria.

Evidence gathered by Met counter terrorism officers included emails and social media messages from Giga’s family, which proved he had travelled to Syria to ‘fight for Jihad’.

This was also matched with flight passenger records and transactions from his bank account.

Further evidence was gathered from messages Giga sent on a social media messaging platform to an undercover officer in June 2016. Giga explains how he “never knew about jihad until 2015” when ISIS took control of parts of Syria.

Giga said he supported ‘Nusra’, part of the Jaysh Al Fath group, and ‘wanted martyrdom very soon in the first row’ (the battlefield in Syria).

He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 17 October.