www.esryle.comLOCAL NEWS ACROSS THE NATION
Posted on 08/24/2004 11:05:43 AM PDT by esryle
A man described by federal authorities as an assistant to a top Hamas operative was arrested by Maryland Transportation Authority police after he was seen videotaping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, authorities said Tuesday.
Ismael Selim Elbarasse of Annandale, Va., suspected by federal authorities of having financial ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, was arrested Friday after two off-duty Baltimore County police officers saw him taping the bridge from a sport utility vehicle, said Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Baltimore.
Elbarasse was not charged with a crime but was detained on a material witness warrant issued by the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago, Murphy said.
Officials there want him to testify before a federal grand jury that described him in an indictment unsealed Friday as a "co-conspirator" in a racketeering scheme to finance terrorist activities in Israel. The conspiracy has been ongoing since at least 1989 in the United States and abroad.
Elbarasse and indicted defendant Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook - considered one of the highest-ranking Hamas leaders worldwide - used a joint bank account in Virginia to launder "substantial sums" of money for Hamas members, according to the court documents.
Maryland Transportation Authority police stopped Elbarasse's SUV west of the bridge after the off-duty Baltimore County officers reported seeing Elbarasse with a camera. The transportation authority police arrested Elbarasse after learning he was wanted in the Chicago case, Murphy said.
Governor Ehrlich said Tuesday the arrest is prompting the state to place more police around the Bay Bridge, although the terror level remains "yellow" - the third highest.
"It shouldn't be a generator of fear. It should serve as a reminder that there is a war going on around the world," Ehrlich said.
Elbarasse made an initial appearance Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul W. Grimm in Baltimore.
He is to appear again Friday for a detention hearing at which the magistrate will likely decide to turn him over to federal officials in Chicago, authorities said.
Federal public defender Franklin W. Draper, who reprented Elbarasse in court Monday, did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment. Elbarasse's wife declined to comment when reached at their home Tuesday. Elbarasse's private attorney, Stanley Cohen of New York, also didn't return calls.
Elbarasse was being held at Maryland Reception Diagnostic and Classification Center, a maximum-security state prison.
The high bridge linking central Maryland with the Eastern Shore is the only bridge that crosses the Chesapeake Bay. The first 4.3-mile span opened in 1952, replacing ferries that had carried passengers across the bay. Its formal name is the William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge.
Also Monday, a Pakistani man who was spotted a month ago videotaping the skyline of Charlotte, N.C., was indicted on charges of lying to the police and an immigration violation. Kamran Akhtar, 35, of New York City, was charged with six counts in the indictment, but none of them involved terrorism.
he wasn't just on a watch list, he was in jail in 1998 for his terrorist ties.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1198320/posts?page=6#6
Wow.
That's a little too close to home for my tastes.
My in-laws use that bridge at least once a week.
These sumbitches need to be given a dirt nap. He won't do it again, and other ragheads will think twice before they do.
Can we put 'em on the Terror Death List?
A bacon grease enema, for starters. Then wrap him in pig skin and chuck him out of a plane at 30,000 feet.
LQ
I wonder if the mayor of Baltimore, Martin O'Malley still thinks Prsident Bush is more dangerous than muslim terrorists?
Feed him to the crabs.
So, your a sleeper freeper, eh? hehehee
I had the same thought when I saw his the name of his attorney.
Why is everyone concerned with the terrorist? Obviously, the problem is the SUV!!!
Since he was caught on the west side of the bridge they should have dragged him into Red Eye's Dock bar and announced that he was a muslim terrorist.
Nothing will happen to the guy. Real wars aren't fought anymore. He'll get a court appointed attorney and end up picking up trash for a few weeks and have to take sensitivity classes. Najaf should be powder, but instead marines are ordered not to scratch it because it's the 439'th holiest site in Iraq. I'm totally sick of it all. Hitler did the world a disservice by giving an efficient and ruthless military a bad name.
Hmm...
OMG! They have cameras of mass destruction!
if the system were working sanely, he would face military tribunal. is he a US citizen?
its the third holiest site for all of islam, after Mecca and Medina.
And Monte Cassino was just a building on a hill.
Hmmmm... I was just over that bridge a few weeks ago and I was taking photos of it. Good thing I don't look Arabic.
Have been over that bridge many times. I have heard that there are people so afraid to drive over the bridge that there are drivers at the bridge that will drive them across. Do you use a commuter bus to go across? Or do you park near Annapolis?
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