Great Britain yesterday jailed its first person convicted for the new crime of planning a terrorist attack, reports BBC.com and the Guardian.

Sohail Qureshi, a 30-year-old London man originally from Pakistan, will spend the next four-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to the the new crime of acts preparatory to terrorism under the Terrorism Act of 2006 [1]. He also pled guilty to possessing articles for terrorist purposes and articles "likely to be useful to a terrorist," reported BBC.com [2].

The Guardian reports [3]:

The prosecutor, Jonathan Sharp, said Qureshi had planned to fly to Islamabad for a "two- to three-week operation" either in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Waziristan, a tribal region of Pakistan. "Sohail Qureshi is a dedicated supporter of Islamist extremism," he said.

The court heard that police found a message on an extremist website in which Qureshi wrote: "Pray that I kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge, revenge."

According to both news organizations, Qureshi was in contact with Britain's "lyrical terrorist," Samina Malik. Malik, a jihadist poet, received a suspended sentence last year for possessing a library of terrorism material. She was the first Muslim woman to be found guilty of a terrorist offence, reported the Telegraph [4].

Qureshi contacted Malik to learn of security protocols at Heathrow Airport. Malik worked airside at the airport for WHSmith, a popular bookseller and newsagent. When Qureshi was arrested in October 2006, he was found carrying £9,000 in cash, a night-sight, two metal batons, and a computer hard drive, according to BBC.com.