Jihad Jane: alleged mastermind.
A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions regarding an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist and newspaper editor, a plan which have may been partly co-ordinated in Waterford.
Gardaí have held up to five Waterford-based people for questioning over the past week in a story which has brought unwelcome worldwide media attention to the city.
It appears that an American convert to Islam, Colleen Renee LaRose (46), widely described as ‘Jihad Jane’ was the mastermind behind the alleged operation.
Last September, Ms La Rose applied to join an online artist’s forum run by Mr Wilks, now suspected of being her intended victim. In an internet posting before hoping to encounter the cartoonist, Ms Ramirez posted: “Only death will stop me now I am so close to the target.”
Well that turned out to be a tad off the mark as she was arrested upon her return to Philadelphia on October 15th, she was arrested just moments after disembarking.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that another American divorcee, Jamie-Paulin-Ramirez (31) of Leadville, Colorado had been arrested in connection with the alleged plot to murder the cartoonist Lars Vilks.
Ms Ramirez, along with her six-year-old son, is believed to have been based in Waterford for the past month, having travelled here after befriending an Algerian man online. Her son, at the time of writing, is in the care of the HSE.
The Waterford public will be glad to see this extraordinary case put to bed as soon as possible.
Relations between immigrants and locals have been largely positive over the past decade.
Unfortunately, the emergence of a small minority of extremists, irrespective of whether they have the means to carry out the deeds they were allegedly planning, means suspicion will linger in sections of our community.
A Libyan, a Croatian and another Algerian were among the nationalities held for questioning in relation to the alleged plot over the past week.
Of the five arrested, two were released in Dungarvan on Friday evening; a woman detained in Tramore was also released that day, with two more due to be released in Waterford as we went to press.
