Two young men from Arnhem have been jailed for three and two years for planning to join Islamic militant groups in Syria, local broadcaster Omroep Gelderland said on Wednesday.

The two, aged 23 and 18, were arrested at the Syrian border with Turkey last September and are said to have been planning to link up with the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group.

The public prosecution department had called for jail terms of three and four years. This would be a proper deterrent to other ‘easily influenced young adults in a vulnerable position’, a department spokesman said.

The men, who were not in court for sentencing, maintain they had only gone to Syria to fetch someone who wanted to come back.