BALTIMORE – A man described as a high-ranking Hamas operative was arrested after he drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge while his wife videotaped close-up shots of the structure, authorities said yesterday.

Ismael Selim Elbarasse, long suspected by authorities of having financial ties to the Palestinian terrorist group, was taken into custody last week and held as a material witness in an unrelated terrorism case in Chicago.

Neither he nor his wife was charged with any wrongdoing in connection with the videotaping.

Governor Ehrlich said the arrest “shouldn’t be a generator of fear. It should serve as a reminder that there is a war going on around the world.”

A federal grand jury in Chicago last week described Mr. Elbarasse as an unindicted co-conspirator in a 15-year scheme to finance terrorist activities in Israel. Hamas has carried out suicide bombings and other attacks in Israel.

Court documents allege 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.

His attorneys did not immediately return calls for comment yesterday. A woman reached by phone at Mr. Elbarasse’s home identified herself as his wife but declined to give her name and refused to comment.

Mr. Elbarasse was spotted Friday – the same day the Chicago indictment was made public – by two off-duty Baltimore County police officers on the 4.3-mile bridge.

Authorities said Mr. Elbarasse was in the car with his wife and their three children, ages 14, 19, and 21. He allegedly said they had gone to the beach but could not specify what beach they had visited.

Authorities also said that the camera had recorded close-up images that seemed unusual for a tourist, and that officers saw the wife try to hide the camera as officers approached.

Mr. Elbarasse is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday for a hearing on whether to turn him over to federal officials in Chicago.