A US woman operating online under the name JihadJane recruited jihadist fighters in the US, Europe and Asia in a bid to carry out terror plots “or die trying”, said prosecutors on Tuesday. US authorities said middle-aged Pennsylvania resident Colleen LaRose, who was arrested in October 2009, spent more than a year networking with would-be attackers around the world.
She sought to recruit men and women, to raise money and even agreed to carry out the murder of a Swedish resident, pledging “only death will stop me.” The US justice department unsealed the indictment against LaRose just hours after Irish police arrested seven people accused of plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist. LaRose faces charges of “conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft.”
With blond hair and green eyes, the 46-year old LaRose allegedly bragged in one e-mail that she could go anywhere undetected, saying it was “an honor and great pleasure to die or kill for” jihad. LaRose is also accused of recruiting women “who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.” and of having stolen a US passport “and transferred or attempted to transfer it in an effort to facilitate an act of international terrorism.” If convicted of the charges against her, LaRose could face life in prison and a $1 million-dollar fine. The justice department declined to comment on whether LaRose was connected to the arrest of four men and three women in Ireland over an alleged plots to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. An al Qaeda-linked group has placed a $100,000 bounty on his head in response to a cartoon he drew depicting the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog.