Terrorism Agents Arrest 4 in Dallas Brothers allegedly tied to terrorist group Hamas Jim Popkin NBC News December 18, 2002 Dec. 18 — A federal terrorism task force on Wednesday arrested four brothers in the Dallas area. Federal officials told NBC News that the men were arrested as part of a 33-count federal indictment alleging money laundering and illegal trade practices. One official identified the men as Ghassan Elashi; Basman Elashi; Bayan Elashi and Hazim Elashi. Attorney General John Ashcroft is expected to announce the indictment Wednesday afternoon at a news conference in Washington. Ghassan Elashi was arrested near his home in Richardson, Texas. He has been a prominent officer with the Holy Land Foundation, a Dallas-based charity that the FBI has linked to the terrorist group Hamas. Elashi also runs an Internet services company called InfoCom, which the FBI and Customs raided in September 2001 just before the Sept. 11 attacks. The raid — and the arrests Wednesday — were conducted by members of the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. Elashi has said he is not involved with terrorism in any way, and denies that Holy Land or InfoCom have any terror ties. Danny Coulson, a former FBI division commander in Dallas, told MSNBC Cable that the investigation into Elashi and InfoCom dates back to 1994. The Dallas Morning News last year reported that court records show the Elashi brothers are cousins of the wife of a former Hamas political leader. The records also show the woman invested $250,000 in InfoCom. The Holy Land Foundation was shut down last December after the Treasury Department accused it of being a Hamas front and seized its assets.