Irish police on Tuesday arrested seven suspects over an alleged plot to kill a Swedish artist who drew the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.
The target of the alleged assassination was Lars Vilks, who has a US$100,000 bounty on his head by al-Qaeda since 2007, with a 50 percent bonus if Vilks was “slaughtered like a lamb” by having his throat cut.
Another US$50,000 was said to have been put on the life of Ulf Johansson, editor-in-chief of Nerikes Allehanda, the local newspaper that printed the cartoon.
The four men and three women, who were detained at about 10am on Tuesday, are in their mid-20s to late-40s and are being held at stations in Waterford, Tramore, Dungarvan and Thomastown. Garda sources have confirmed that some of those arrested hold Irish citizenship and a number are from the Middle East. Some of those questioned have been confirmed as converts to Islam.
The suspects are being held under Ireland’s Criminal Justice Act 2007. Under Irish law they can be held in custody for up to seven days.
Ireland’s anti-terrorist special detective unit was involved in the operation.
“Throughout the investigation the Garda Siochana has been working closely with law enforcement agencies in the United States and in a number of European countries,” a spokesman for the force said.
Vilks’ cartoon caused outrage because dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.
Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania woman who called herself JihadJane was tied on Tuesday to the alleged plot to kill Vilks.
In an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, US federal prosecutors accused Colleen LaRose, an American from the suburbs of Philadelphia, of linking up through the Internet with militants overseas and plotting to carry out a murder.
LaRose, 46, was arrested in Philadelphia in October, but her case was kept under seal. Although the indictment does not identify the target, a law enforcement official said her case was linked to the arrests of seven suspects in Ireland.
Mark Wilson and Rossman Thompson, federal public defenders in Philadelphia who are representing LaRose, declined to comment.
Michael Levy, the US attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, said in a statement the case illustrated how terrorists were looking for US recruits who could blend in.
“It shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance,” he said.
LaRose is white, with blond hair and green eyes, said a law enforcement official, who was not authorized to share details of the case and spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The official said LaRose was born in Michigan and later lived in Texas and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The indictment said that in the middle of 2008, LaRose, using the aliases JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, began posting on YouTube and other Internet sites messages about her desire to help Muslims.
A MySpace profile for a woman who refers to herself as JihadJane displays pictures of bloodshed and violence in the Middle East scrawled with messages like “Palestine We Are With You” and “Sympathize With Gaza.”
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