Two people have been remanded in custody in connection with an international investigation into an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist.
A Croatian man and an American woman appeared before Waterford District Court this morning at 9am.
The man and the woman were brought before a special sitting of Waterford District Court at 9am.
Members of the media were not allowed in the court or the court precincts.
Last night, five others brought before a special sitting of the court had their period of detention extended at the request of gardaí.
The four men and three women were all arrested on Tuesday in Waterford and Cork as part of an international investigation into alleged death threats against cartoonist Lars Vilks.
It is alleged an American woman dubbed “Jihad Jane” at the centre of an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist “sponsored” a number of Muslims in Ireland on extremist websites before travelling here to meet them.
Gardaí believe Colleen Renee LaRose, who has been under arrest in connection with the alleged murder plot in the US since last October, first befriended a number of foreign nationals living in Ireland on websites.
It appears she “sponsored” them, or vouched for them, to those regulating the sites. This resulted in some of the individuals now under arrest in Ireland being given passwords to private internet chat rooms where the alleged plot to kill cartoonist Lars Vilks was discussed.
Ms LaRose, a 46-year-old US citizen, visited Ireland last August on an apparently aborted trip to Sweden. While here, she met some of the seven people arrested in Waterford and Cork on Tuesday. Gardaí were tipped off by the FBI last October about the Irish link to the alleged murder plot. A Garda investigation was put in place aimed at covertly gathering as much information as possible on the Irish-based suspects.
The Irish Times understands about 25 people here who knew them have been informally spoken to by gardaí.
Gardaí have been trying to assess if any of those under arrest tried to radicalise any of their Muslim associates or if they tried to put in place the resources that might aid the alleged plot to kill Mr Vilks, such as organising safe houses here.