DUSHANBE, June 8, 2016, Asia-Plus – A Tajik national who was poised to travel to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria has been jailed for 6 ½ years.

A court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district sentenced a 31-year-old resident of Dushanbe, Ahliddin Shaykhov, to 6 ½ years in prison on June 7.

According to a statement released by the Ismoili Somoni district court, Ahliddin Shaykhov, who was in Russia for seasonal work, in September last year traveled from the Russian city of Astrakhan to Istanbul together with Russian national named Salman.

At the Istanbul airport they were reportedly met by Russian national named Ahmed.  Ahliddin Shaykhov and his fellow travelers were detained by Turkish security offices in late December while illegally crossing the Turkish-Syrian border.