Suspected Hamas Operative Detained In Maryland
Man Named Co-Conspirator In Chicago Terrorism Case
POSTED: 6:39 am EDT August 24, 2004
UPDATED: 3:10 pm EDT August 24, 2004
BALTIMORE -- A man described by federal authorities as a "high-ranking" Hamas operative was arrested in Maryland Friday as he was videotaping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, authorities said.
Ismael Selim Elbarasse, of Annandale, Va., long suspected by authorities of having financial ties to the Palestinian terrorist group, was taken into custody as a "material witness" in a Chicago terrorism case, the U.S. Attorney's office in Maryland announced Monday.
WBAL-TV 11 News reporter John Sherman broke first the report Monday night after learning that a family of Middle Eastern descent was detained Friday afternoon, and a high ranking police source called the incident "significant."
Sources confirmed for 11 News late Monday night that Baltimore County police officers spotted the family of two adults and two adolescents in a sport utility vehicle.
Baltimore County police officials identified the officers as 31-year veteran Sgt. Wayne Lloyd, 18-year veteran Officer Barry Sweitzer and five-year veteran Officer William Kontz.
The officers, assigned to the department's marine unit, were returning from a training exercise in a marked car when they noticed a male occupant of a passing sport utility vehicle videotaping the bridge, authorities said.
One person in the car was videotaping the bridge as the family drove over it, and the officers called it in to Maryland Transportation Authority police, the department that has jurisdiction over the bridge.
MdTA police observed the car and the videotaping as the family drove over the bridge several times, Sherman reported. The occupants of the SUV appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent and were seen "hiding the camera," authorities said.
At the toll plaza, the Baltimore County officers reported what they had seen to Maryland Transportation Authority Police. MTA officers stopped the SUV west of the bridge and confiscated the camera, authorities said. Authorities said the camera had recorded close-up images that seemed atypical for a tourist.
When questioned by police, the couple said they were returning "from the beach," but could not specify which beach they had visited. There was luggage and two beach chairs in the car, according to authorities.
Police learned that Elbarasse was wanted in connection with a Chicago case, and was on an FBI terrorist watch list, authorities said.
Watch 11 News tonight at 5 and 6 for more developments
Governor: Police Station More Officers Around Bridge:
Gov. Bob Ehrlich said that since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the state has placed more police around the Bay Bridge from different agencies.
The governor said the arrest shouldn't generate fear. Instead, Ehrlich said it should remind people that there is a war going on.
The state's terror level remains "yellow" -- the third highest.
Elbarasse Appears In Federal Court In Baltimore:
Elbarasse made an initial appearance in Baltimore's federal courthouse Monday before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Paul W. Grimm, though Elbarasse is not charged with any wrongdoing in Maryland, authorities said.
Elbarasse is to appear again in federal court in Baltimore Friday for a detention hearing. Authorities say that's when a magistrate will likely decide to turn him over to federal officials in Chicago.
Elbarasse is being held at Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center, a maximum-security state prison.
"He is being held only on the material witness charge," said Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Maryland U.S. attorney's office.
Federal public defender Franklin Draper, who represented Elbarasse in court Monday has not returned a call seeking comment. Elbarasse's wife declined to comment when reached at their home Tuesday morning.
The Chicago Indictment:
A federal grand jury in Chicago, in an indictment unsealed and announced on Friday, described Elbarasse as a "co-conspirator" in a 15-year racketeering conspiracy in the United States and abroad to illegally finance terrorist activities in Israel.
Elbarasse was not indicted, but court documents allege that he and defendant Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook -- considered one of the highest-ranking Hamas leaders internationally -- shared a Virginia bank account that was used to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hamas.
Abu Marzook resides in Syria and is considered a fugitive from justice, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. The other two defendants charged in the indictment are Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah of suburban Chicago and Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar of Fairfax County, Va.
According to the Chicago indictment, Elbarasse worked as an assistant to Abu Marzook, helping transfer "substantial sums of money" to Hamas members.
For four years, from 1989 to 1993, he used bank accounts in places such as Cleveland, Milwaukee, New York, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Switzerland.
In June 1992, Elbarasse transferred $350,000 to four domestic and overseas accounts and received transfers totaling $900,000 from another co-conspirator, according to federal officials.
Authorities have focused on Elbarasse before. In 1998, federal prosecutors tried to convince him to cooperate with a New York grand jury, offering him immunity if he would testify, according to the Chicago indictment. But Elbarasse, a U.S. citizen, refused to answer any questions about Hamas funding, and was jailed for eight months, according to newspaper accounts at the time.
His attorney then, Stanley L. Cohen of New York City, called Elbarasse a "freedom fighter without a gun." Attempts to reach Cohen last night were unsuccessful. In the 1990s, Elbarasse was a comptroller at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a Saudi-financed school in Alexandria, Va. Tax records show that he is the former director of the Islamic Association for Palestine, a group formerly based in Richardson, Texas, which has been labeled as a Hamas front by Israel.
Since Elbarasse's arrest in Maryland Friday, authorities have searched his Virginia house, federal officials said.
Murphy, of the Maryland U.S. Attorney's office, said she did not know what was found.
Elbarasse is expected to have a detention hearing in Baltimore on Friday and will be sent to Chicago afterward for questioning.
"Today, terrorists have lost yet another source of financing and support for their bombs and bloodshed," U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said last week when the indictments were announced in Chicago.
"Our record on terrorist financing is clear: We will hunt down the suppliers of terrorist blood money. We will shut down these sources, and we will ensure that both terrorists and their financiers meet the full justice of the United States of America," Ashcroft said.
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