Police arrest Irish ‘Isil bride’ on suspicion of terrorism offences
POLICE have arrested an Irish woman accused of being a member of the socalled Islamic State terror group after she arrived in Dublin by plane yesterday.
Lisa Smith, a 38-year-old former soldier in the Irish Defence Forces, is accused of travelling to Syria and joining the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
Ms Smith had been living with her child in a Syrian refugee camp where she said in a series of interviews that she would like to return to Ireland.
She was deported from Turkey on a Turkish Airlines flight which arrived around 10.30am at Dublin airport.
“An Garda Siochana has arrested an Irish citizen (38-year-old female) on suspicion of terrorist offences following her deportation from Turkey,” an Irish police spokesman said.
“She is currently being detained at a South Dublin Garda station under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, 1939 as amended.
“A child, also an Irish citizen, was in the company of the female and is now being cared for by relatives.”
Irish broadcaster RTE said she was accompanied by three consular officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs, members of the Army Ranger
Wing, and a Turkish security officer.
She was not in custody for the fourand-a-half-hour flight but Irish police were waiting at Dublin airport for the plane’s arrival. Images of her arrival showed her covered in a pink blanket as she was taken from the plane.
Her daughter was born in Syria but is an Irish citizen.
Lisa Smith once accompanied a former president and leader of Ireland on foreign trips as a member of the Defence Forces, but went to the war-torn Middle Eastern country in 2015 after converting to Islam. She has said the father of her child was a suspected member of Isil who died last year.
Ms Smith is originally from Dundalk in Co Louth, close to the border with Northern Ireland.
Ms Smith held a relatively lowly role in the Defence Forces but worked on the official Irish government jet.
Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, said Ms Smith should have the right of return to Ireland and that removing her citizenship would not be right or compassionate.