FEDS INDICT 7 IN TEXAS TERROR PROBE

Associated Press ^ | December 18, 2002 | ANGELA K. BROWN

[new cruelty]

DALLAS - The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five brothers who work at a Texas company were indicted on charges of money laundering and sending computers to Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) announced Wednesday.

"We will pursue the financiers of terror as aggressively as we pursue the thugs who do their dirty work," Ashcroft said at the Justice Department (news - web sites). The two countries are designated by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism.

Earlier, four of the brothers were arrested in Texas by federal antiterrorism agents. The fifth brother already was in custody. The brothers worked at Infocom, a computer company in Richardson, Texas, a Dallas suburb.

Ashcroft said the indictments named Mousa Abu Marzook and his wife, both believed to be in the Middle East.

The brothers arrested included the company vice president, Ghassan Elashi, 48, also identified as a director of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The foundation was shut down in December 2001 after the Treasury Department (news - web sites) accused the self-described charity of being a front for the Palestinian militant group Hamas and seized its assets.

The other brothers arrested were identified as Bayan Elashi, 47, Basman Elashi and Hazim Elashi, 41. The fifth brother, Ihsan Elashi, is in custody on charges of illegally exporting computer goods to the Middle East.

Ashcroft characterized Marzook as a senior member of Hamas, and said Marzook and his wife were accused of conspiring to violate U.S. laws that prohibit dealing in terrorist funds.

"The war against terrorism is a war of accountants and auditors, as well as a war of weaponry and soldiers," Ashcroft said. "Today's charges against a senior leader of Hamas are the latest in an aggressive campaign to identify, disrupt and destroy the sources of funding that make terrorism possible.

The government's case against the Holy Land Foundation was based in part on a 49-page FBI (news - web sites) report that said Hamas members met with Ghassan Elsashi and other Holy Land officials in 1993 to discuss raising money for the families of suicide bombers. The report also noted a previously disclosed $210,000 donation from Marzook, a Hamas political leader whose wife is a cousin of the Elashis by marriage.

The Holy Land Foundation raised $13 million in 2000 and claimed to be the largest U.S. Muslim charity, supporting schools and social programs for Palestinians and in predominantly Muslim nations. Its Web site condemned Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Hamas, an Arabic acronym for "Islamic Resistance Movement," was founded in 1987 at the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising against Israel. Hamas does not accept the existence of a Jewish state in the Middle East and does not distinguish between attacks against Israelis inside Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites). In contrast, Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s mainstream Fatah (news - web sites) demands a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza alongside Israel.

Hamas has been responsible for many of the 85 suicide bombing attacks that have killed 307 Israelis during 26 months of fighting.

The four brothers who were arrested Wednesday and their other brother were charged with selling computers and computer parts to Libya and Syria.

The 33-count indictment accuses the group of illegal exports to Syria and Libya, money laundering, dealing in the property of a designated terrorist and making false statements, Ashcroft said.

The attorney general said the defendants could received up to 45 years each in prison if convicted, and were subject to possible fines up to $7.2 million.

Ashcroft said Infocom was in the same office park and shared some of the same employees as the Holy Land Foundation. Both Infocom and Holy Land Foundation received "seed money" from Marzook, Ashcroft alleged.

The indictment alleges that Marzook and his wife "engaged in a scheme with Infocom officials to disguise Marzook's capital investment in the company and to continue to receive profits from Infocom.

Infocom and its employees made illegal shipments of computers and computer technology to "state sponsors of terrorism, Libya and Syria."

Marzook and the Elashi brothers attempted to conceal the shipments from the authorities.

[The Obstinate Insomniac]

bump

[RoseofTexas]

HOLY COW SNATCHING ROUND-UP!! Go get'em cowboy!!

[billhilly]

This morning on one of the cable channels, I believe MSNBC, a senior FBI agent said he worked on that project in 1994, and because there was a "religious" connection, the previous administration would not let them follow up. He specifically said that they could get no help at all from the justice department. Was it not on April 19, 2003 that the same administration incinerated men, women and children in another Texas location, who also professed to be a religion?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for getting this on the list! Here is a lengthy but important document which should be read by all!

Jihadis in the Hood
Race, Urban Islam and the War on Terror

JIHAD IN AMERICA:

To find all articles tagged or indexed using JIHAD IN AMERICA, click below:
	click here >>>	JIHAD IN AMERICA	<<< click here
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

[RaceBannon]

le bump

[contessa machiaveli]

things are falling beautifully into place, i do believe this administration is in control. thank goodness for our prez.

BUMP

[MeekOneGOP]

4 arrested in InfoCom probe

'We will follow the money of terror'

12/18/2002

By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News

Four officers and employees of a Richardson Internet services company were arrested by federal agents Wednesday on charges that they conspired to hide their financial dealings with a top leader of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced details of the 33-count indictment against "terrorist moneymen" at a midafternoon news conference in Washington.

"We will follow the money of terror and we will pursue the financiers of terror as agressively as we pursue the thugs who do their dirty work," Mr. Ashcroft said.

Ghassan Elashi and his three of his brothers were arrested at their homes early Wednesday by agents of the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. They were expected to appear for a hearing in federal court later in the day.

Mr. Elashi, is a co-founder and former board chairman of Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, an Islamic charity closed by federal authorities last year based on accusations that it was a financial front for Hamas.

Mr. Ashcroft announced the indictments of the Elashi brothers and Mousa Abu Marzook, a former U.S. resident who is the deputy political leader of Hamas. The men are accused of selling computers and computer parts to Syria and Libya, two countries designated by the Unites States government as state sponsors of terrorism.

The attorney general credited local police agencies in Richardson, Plano and Dallas for their help in cracking the case.

FBI agents searched the InfoCom offices just days before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
(FILE 2001 / DMN)

The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Dallas on Tuesday, is built around a $250,000 investment made in 1993 by Mr. Marzook's wife, Nadia, in InfoCom Corp., the Elashi brothers' company.

If convicted, Mr. Ashcroft said the accused men face up to 10 years in prison on charges of illegal exports to Syria and Libya; 10 to 20 years fo rmoney laundering; 10 years for dealing in the property of a designated terrorist; and five years in prison for making false statements.

He said the defendants are also subject to fines of up to $7.2 million.

"Today's charges against a senior leader of Hamas are the latest in an agressive campaign to identify, disrupt and destroy the sources of funding that make terrorism possible," Mr. Ashcroft said.

The attorney general noted that charges of material support for terrorism are also pending against individuals in Houston, Chicago, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, and Buffalo.

The U.S. Treasury Department designated Mr. Marzook a terrorist in 1995, making it illegal for anyone in the United States to do business with him. The government contends that the investment in InfoCom violated that order.

The Elashis have contended in the past that the investment was solely that of Mrs. Marzook, their distant cousin. Their attorneys have said the investment was an annuity that has been used to pay college expenses for one of the Marzooks' children.

Holy Land raised $13 million in 2000 and claimed to be the largest U.S. Muslim charity, supporting schools and social programs for Palestinians and in predominantly Muslim nations. Its Web site condemned Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Also Online

Video: Jim Douglas reports

The InfoCom arrests come one day after federal authorities arrested three relatives of a man accused of belonging to an al-Qaeda terror cell in Lackawanna, N.Y.

The three, all of Yemeni descent, were indicted on a charge that they sent more than $480,000 to Yemen without a license to operate a money transferring business, which is required by state law. Federal prosecutors also said the business was not registered with the U.S. Department of Treasury as required by federal law.

Blocking terrorists' assets and reducing the flow of money funneled to them by witting or unwitting parties has been a priority for the Bush administration since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Treasury Department said last week that $123 million in terrorist assets have been blocked worldwide since the attacks _ nearly $87 million overseas and $36 million within the United States.

"Terrorist moneymen should know this," Mr. Ashcroft said. "We are hunting down the murderers you support, and we will hunt you down. Just as we will prosecute the terrorist who plants a bomb, we will prosecute the terrorist supporter who writes a check."

Dallas Morning News staff writer Michelle Mittelstadt in Washington, D.C., Dallas Web Staff reporter Walt Zwirko in Dallas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

E-mail: smcgonigle@dallasnews.com and mmittelstadt@dallasnews.com

Read more on this story in Thursday's Dallas Morning News.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/121802dnmetinfocom.16d150c.html

[Lion's Cub]

Was it not on April 19, 2003 that the same administration incinerated men, women and children in another Texas location, who also professed to be a religion?

I think you meant April 19, 1993 :)

Waco was certainly a travesty and proof that different standards apply for dealing with white men than for others; but, in view of what we know now (OKC on the 2-year anniversary, and all the other terrorist acts that were covered up), I wonder now if Koresh was involved with muslim terrorists--or maybe just knew about them--which is why the FBI murdered them? I think there's a good possibility that Waco was somehow connected in some way to terrorism--or the coverup thereof.