MOSCOW, February 28 (RAPSI) – The North Caucasus District Military Court had sentenced five residents of Ingushetia, a North Caucasian Republic in Russia, to prison terms ranging from 12 to 20 years for participation in the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization banned in Russia, the court’s spokesperson Alena Katkalo told RAPSI on Thursday.

All convicts are to serve their terms in a high security prison.

The court has found that in 2016 the men joined an ISIS cell active in Ingushetia and conspired to commit a terror attack, so they illegally purchased firearms, ammunition, improvised bombs and explosives.

One of the convicts pleaded guilty of being a member of an illegal armed group fighting the Syrian government forces in 2014.