Teen sentenced in London after trying to join ISIL with 'step-by-step' guide

A 19-year-old London resident caught trying to join the Islamic State in Syria with a "step-by-step" guide was sentenced Thursday to 3½ years in jail after pleading guilty to the preparation of terrorist acts, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Cubeyda Jama was arrested in February at Stansted Airport in London on his way to Bucharest, Romania. Jama had planned to then cross the Syrian border into territory held by the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, according to the Belfast Telegraph.

When officers searched Jama, they found a map of Turkey and its borders, protective clothing, a solar- powered charger, as well as a USB drive that had an instructional e-book on how to travel to the Islamic State in Syria. The USB also held copies of a terrorist propaganda magazine and a file called "self-sacrifice" about suicide bombings.

Jama, a London-based Finnish student, pleaded guilty in court on June 24.

"Jama had a step-by-step guide to fighting for (Islamic State) and many items which could be used by aspiring terrorists. ... There is no doubt in my mind what his intentions were if he had made it to Syria," Dean Haydon, head of the police department's terrorism command, said Thursday in a statement. "Today's sentence should serve as a timely reminder to anyone thinking of traveling for the purposes of terrorism."