LONDON, July 8 (UPI) -- Two men from Britain have pleaded guilty to terror charges, admitting they traveled to Syria to participate in the civil war.
Nahin Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, both 22, have acknowledged they engaged in preparatory terrorist acts in violation of section five of the Terrorism Act. The duo spent eight months in Syria.
They were arrested by the West Midlands Police counter-terrorism unit upon their return to Heathrow Airport in January. The pair came to the attention of police after Sarwar's parents contacted the police in May 2013 upon finding a handwritten letter from Sarwar telling them he had gone to Syria "to do jiahd."
When the men were detained at Heathrow, "Traces of military grade explosives were found on their clothing and pictures on their camera showed them brandishing weapons," with photos geo-located to the area in and around Aleppo, a main conflict zone in Syria.