Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, was once a small-town Colorado mother, until she abruptly converted to Islam last year, abandoned her family on Sept. 11 to marry a Muslim man in New York, and relocated with him to Ireland.
Now she is in the custody of police in Ireland, arrested along with six others on charges of conspiracy to commit murder:
Ms. Paulin-Ramirez is the second American woman to be linked to an alleged plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who made fun of the Prophet Mohammed. An indictment was unsealed this week against Colleen R. LaRose, 46, a suburban Philadelphia woman who authorities said used the Web alias “JihadJane.”
Ms. LaRose was accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist and attempting to recruit jihadis via the Internet.
She was arrested in October and later charged with providing material support to terrorists.
The Justice Department kept its case under wraps until this week while investigators in the U.S. and Europe pursued their investigation against other potential suspects in the U.S. and abroad.
The main contact for Ms. LaRose is believed to be one of the men in Irish custody, an Algerian, who has a relationship with Ms. Paulin-Ramirez, according to a person close to matter.
A person close to the Irish police couldn’t confirm whether Ms. Paulin-Ramirez and the Algerian are married.
Ms. LaRose spent roughly two weeks in Ireland last fall, a person familiar with the matter said.
The Irish police are holding four men and three women, including three Algerians, a Croatian, a Palestinian, a Libyan and a U.S. national, according to a person close to the police.
They are being questioned and haven’t been charged.
A U.S. official familiar with the matter confirmed that Ms. Paulin-Ramirez is the U.S. national. The Justice Department declined to comment.
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