Australian boy caught en route to joining IS to be sentenced

A teenaged boy from Australia, who was caught in August en route to joining the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group, pleaded guilty Tuesday in a local court for unlawfully using travel documents issued to another person.

Ahmad Saiyer Naizmand, 19, a Sydney teenager who tried to slip out of the country to join the IS, told authorities that he was going on a two-week holiday Aug 6 to Malaysia to help his uncle sort out visa issues.

Ahmad Saiyer Naizmand will be sentenced in February next year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He presented his 20-year-old brother Ahmad Samir Naizmand's passport to customs officials at the airport.

He was travelling with just hand luggage and A$6000 ($4,960) cash on him.
The Afghanistan-born Ahmad Saiyer Naizmand, who works as a courier boy, was once a talented rugby league player and was selected in 2011 to play representative football for the North Sydney Bears.

However, he had his passport cancelled in 2013 due to security concerns. His family home in Kellyville was also raided during the September counter-terrorism operation in Sydney.

He was allowed to board the plane to Kuala Lumpur but when he turned up in Dubai two days later, authorities swooped down and brought him back to Sydney, where he was charged.

When he arrived back in Sydney with police in tow, he mistakenly filled out an incoming passenger card under his own name despite purporting to be his brother, court documents state.

His family moved to Australia in 2004 and Naizmand became a citizen in 2007. He received an Australian passport in January 2013 but it was cancelled just six months later due to terrorism concerns.

Dozens of Australians, mostly young men, have been prevented from leaving Australia to travel to Syria and Iraq to join the IS.

About 90 Australians are believed to be fighting with Islamic State and 20 have died.