ISIS bride Lisa Smith will be back in Ireland in the next few days, security sources said yesterday.
The 38-year-old former Irish Army soldier will be booted out of Turkey with her two-year-old daughter.
Dublin Live has learned that Department of Foreign Affairs officials spent Wednesday in high-level meetings finalising details of her return.
Sources said her arrival is “imminent” and could be this weekend.
Turkish media have also reported the country will repatriate Smith and her daughter back to Ireland as soon as today or tomorrow.
However, with red tape in Turkey, it may be delayed until next week. Gardai tasked with the security of the State have been consulted along with senior Defence Forces officers.
The 38-year-old, who once worked on the Government jet, will be detained by detectives once she touches down on Irish soil as sources claim there are enough grounds to do so.
An insider said: “She will be detained but not perhaps actually arrested.
“She has questions to answer. We cannot and will not let her just saunter off a plane. However, the fact she will be travelling with her young daughter means this has to be handled very sensitively and in a humane manner.”
The Garda’s secretive security and intelligence section, who specialise in anti-terror operations, will want to know what connections Smith made with Isis sympathisers in Ireland.
Army intelligence have also been pouring over her background and will be keen to see what she knows.
Specialist soldiers from the Army Ranger Wing have been in Turkey in an advisory role.
The source added: “Gardai and the Army have both done a lot of work on who she has met and where has travelled. But they will need to check names, addresses, times of any meetings she had.
“They are very keen indeed to speak to her.”
Smith, from Dundalk, Co Louth, and her daughter are in a queue for deportation. It is part of Turkey’s push to kick out foreign nationals with ISIS links.
She converted to Islam in around 2011, then quit the Air Corps and in 2015 travelled to Syria, through Tunisia.
She escaped from the al-Hawl camp last month following the Turkish invasion and made her way north.
A Turkish-backed militia picked her up and handed her to over to Turkey.
