AN Irish woman who had a relationship with one of the London Bridge terrorists has claimed that there are up to 150 Islamic extremists currently living in Ireland.
In a new documentary created by Irish crime journalist Paul Williams, a woman going by the fake name Aaliyah revealed that she was visited several times in Ireland by the mastermind behind the London Bridge terror attack.
Khuram Butt carried out the attack on 3 June of last year alongside Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba.
Eight innocent people were killed in the attack while another 48 people were injured.
The documentary, entitled Ireland’s Jihadis, will air on Virgin Media One on Wednesday, and focuses on the story of the Irish woman who converted to Islam after living in the UK.
Aaliyah told Paul Williams that she took several trips around the country with Butt to meet other radicals in places like Cavan, Limerick and Clonmel.
She met Butt through her then-boyfriend Raza, a Pakistani-born UK citizen who himself is suspected of carrying out several internet fraud rackets targeting Irish companies in order to raise funds for ISIS.
Aaliyah and Raza lived in Santry between 2015 and 2016, where she claims Butt stayed with them on several occasions and travelled with Raza to Limerick and Clonmel where they had a group of extremist friends.
Speaking in the documentary, Aaliyah said: “When we went back to Ireland and we would come over and back and he (Butt) would come over to visit us the relationship with him developed. They wouldn’t have treated me any different, like as an outsider.
“I would have altogether met Khuram Butt, about thirty or forty times I’d say. We went to Limerick. We went to Cavan together as well. We would have went down to Clonmel. He would have wanted to go to visit people.
“They would have spoken about their views and stuff like that in places in Limerick, especially in Limerick. They had a close circle of friends there. In Clonmel as well they would have had a close group of friends.”
Rachid Redouane also was found to have strong links to Ireland after last year’s attack.
Redouane, who used the name Rachid Elkhdar, had previously lived in Rathmines, south Dublin over an 18-month period from 2014 to 2016 with a British-born wife, believed to be from an Irish family in east London.
An Irish ID card was found on his body after he was shot dead by police.
He was not known to An Garda Siochana.
Ireland’s Jihadis will air on Virgin Media One tomorrow night at 10pm.
