Greenacres - The FBI notified a congressional committee investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks before searching a house this week that was vacated within days of the collapse of the Twin Towers, according to a source on Capitol Hill.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the bureau advised the "appropriate" members of Congress about this week's search in the Fairway Isles house.
More than a dozen agents examined the gray single-family house on Doral Drive on Tuesday, scanning with metal detectors and digging in the yard. They finished Wednesday after towing a car.
Orihuela said the agents were serving a sealed federal search warrant at the house, which, according to property records, belongs to Mohammed al-Masri. The warrant will remain sealed unless there is an arrest, she said.
"The public is not in danger," she said. "It's not a safety hazard issue."
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Embassy in Washington is aware of the investigation but has not been contacted by the FBI, a spokeswoman said.
As the FBI agents worked, neighbors said it was about time investigators showed up. Lisa Dickerson, 43, whose mother lives next door, said she called the bureau about the family just days after Sept. 11, 2001.
The Capitol Hill source said the FBI conducted the search based on neighbors' reports.
Neighborhood association President Dave Remsen said he learned a few months ago FBI officials were looking at the house al-Masri bought in June 2000. Neighbor Kristina Daddio said she saw a locksmith at the house last week.
Some neighbors say they suspect that the al-Masris could be connected to terrorism. The al-Masri family -- Mohammed, his wife and four children -- was from Saudi Arabia, neighbors said. Mohammed and his wife were proud that their oldest son, Turki, was training at Lantana Airport to be a private pilot, said Martha Ruth, 70, Dickerson's mother.
On Sept. 9, 2001, Mohammed al-Masri and his eldest son quickly put the rest of the family into a car and sent them away, Dickerson said.
When hijackers crashed jets into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon two days later, neighbors called the FBI and suggested they visit the Doral Drive house, she said.
For about a week after the terrorist attacks, Turki al-Masri kept going to his flight school classes at Kemper Aviation, said an employee at the school. He was a diligent student, she said.
Then Turki al-Masri and his father left Greenacres, neighbors say. The family had their tax bill sent to an address in Jaddah, Saudi Arabia, tax records at the Palm Beach County Assessor's Office show.
On Dec. 5, 2001, the office received $2,264.93 for taxes on the Doral Drive house, according to tax records. The next payment is due in April.
Before they left, the al-Masris paid their homeowners association dues for a year, Remsen said. But they've fallen behind in recent months.
The electricity was still on, but the water had been shut off when the FBI arrived at the house last week, Orihuela said.
After Sept. 11, information about the hijackers began to trickle out that fed neighbors' suspicions about the al-Masris: Most of the hijackers had lived in South Florida, some trained at local flight schools, several were Saudi Arabian.
Someone called the Greenacres Police Department last Aug. 15 to ask an officer to check out the al-Masri house.
According to the report, the caller contacted police because, "Arabs paid cash for this house and vacated it." Court records show al-Masri didn't take out a mortgage on the $119,000 home.
When the property began looking shoddy, neighbors complained, Remsen said. He said he paid to have the grass cut.
Eventually, Remsen got legal permission and went inside the house. It looked as though the family had left in a hurry, and dishes full of food still sat on the table, he said....
FBI scours empty Greenacres home for terrorism clues
By C. Ron Allen, Mike Clary and Sam Tranum - Staff Writers - January 22 2003
Greenacres - FBI agents on Tuesday scoured the suburban home of a family that neighbors say moved away within days of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela would say only that agents were serving a sealed federal search warrant.
More than a dozen agents arrived about noon Tuesday, put on coveralls and green rubber gloves and started scanning the ground with metal detectors and digging through flower beds. They ended their search about 8 p.m., leaving a few agents behind to guard the house.
"[The FBI] said it's not a health or safety issue at all," Greenacres City Councilman Richard Radcliffe said.
The single-family house on Doral Drive is in the gated Fairway Isles neighborhood near the intersection of Forest Hill Boulevard and Jog Road.
Property records show Mohammed al-Masri bought the house June 30, 2000. He was an engineer who lived there for two summers with his wife and children, neighbors say.
Martha Ruth, 70, the al-Masris next-door neighbor, said she had visited for tea.
"They told me how proud they were their son was going to flight school," Ruth said.
If the al-Masris raised any suspicions or rubbed their neighbors the wrong way, it was only by being too friendly, neighbors say.
Until Sept. 9, 2001.
That Sunday, Mohammed al-Masri and his eldest son, Turki, packed the rest of the family into a car and sent them away, according to Ruth's daughter, Lisa Dickerson, 43.
"The people were waving and saying they're going back to Saudi [Arabia]. The way he put those people in the car so fast -- I thought it was bizarre," she said.
Two days later, Middle Eastern terrorists used passenger jets to bring down the Twin Towers and carve a gash out of the Pentagon.
Dickerson said she called the FBI to tell them about her neighbors -- the student-pilot license Turki al-Masri earned June 23, 2001, and the sudden departure of the women and children suddenly seemed very suspicious.
And there was what neighbors said was the al-Masris' cash purchase of the $119,000 house. Court records show the al-Masris didn't take out a mortgage on the home.
"I wanted them to send a detective out here," Dickerson said.
Dickerson said she didn't see any evidence the FBI came to the neighborhood to visit the al-Masris in the week after Sept. 11. Then on Sept. 17, Mohammed al-Masri and his son, Turki, left town, she said.
The grass started growing, the bills piling up. There's been no sign of the al-Masris since, residents say.
... Neighborhood association President David Remsen, 53, said when it became apparent the house had been abandoned, he got the necessary legal OKs to enter the house in July. It looked as though the al-Masris left in a hurry, he said.
The furniture was still in place, there were sneakers on the floor and mail was piled behind the front door, Remsen said. On the dining room table, there were dishes still full of food, he said.
"It was as though they just left," he said.
Remsen said what really bothered neighbors, though, was that no one was cutting the grass. Residents worried about their property values kept calling him. Eventually, he cut the grass and cleaned up the yard himself, he said.
In recent months the FBI has visited the house periodically, changing locks and removing a computer from the property, said neighbor Rodney Lamarca, 58.
... The FBI backed a big trailer up to the house, took pictures of the roof and peered into an air duct. For a while they closed off the neighborhood...
I don't know how to add articles to the threads.
Can you add it, if you think it is worth adding??