FBI searches Palm Beach County ex-home of Saudi family

Palm Beach Post ^ | 1/22/03 | SCOTT MCCABE and ELIOT KLEINBERG

[Ranger]

1. Do you think he buried cash in the backyard? He freaks out that someone had gained access to the backyard, the FBI digs there, the guy pays cash for everything including his house. There is too much cash floating around which must mean there is a ready source of it at hand and a means of moving it about.

2. Where is the local mosque and did he attend along with the hijackers?

[Cindy]

SUN-SENTINEL.com: "FBI TOLD 9-11 PANEL OF SEARCH AT HOUSE" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "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.

The electricity was still on but the water had been shut off when the FBI arrived at the house last week, Orihuela said.") (January 23, 2003)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cpfbi23jan23,0,6227288.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dbroward

[EnquiringMind]

Heard on radio this a.m. that a Miami news source is reporting there was a direct transfer of funds from al-Masri to one of the hijackers.

[Lion's Cub]

New info in 58-63.

I don't know what they were looking for, Ranger, since the later articles mentioned that the father and son stayed behind--and they had ample time to retrieve the money or anything else. And it sounds like the kid stayed long enough to pass off whatever was buried. And, since this was a gated community, I doubt that they'd have left anything buried for other culprits to retrieve.

In one of the pictures accompanying an article about this search (don't remember which one), I noticed the little "evidence" flags on the lawn. I don't remember whether they were on the front or back lawn, but I'll try to find the picture later.

Since he claimed to be an engineer, and BL's father built prolifically in SA, and Jeddah was where he was headquartered, I'm wondering if this guy works for OBL's family?

It's also possible that he had blueprints of the WTC or worked with some cutout doing some form of engineering work for the complex--and perhaps gathered engineering intelligence about it.

[Fred Mertz]

While agents donned the protective gear as a precaution, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the search was not related to the anthrax investigation. That probe began with the death of Sun tabloid photo editor Bob Stevens, who lived within miles of the Almasri home.

That's a strange coincidence, isn't it?

Good work, Ranger. Thanks for the flag, Lion's Cub.

[Wolfstar]

Thank you very, very much for the insightful details about mail processing. Could you answer a question about timing? AMA employees believed the letter with the odd powder arrived in their mail room about 9/8/01. Now the 8th was on a Saturday that year. So unless their mail room is open on a Saturday (quite possible considering the business they are in), it might actually have arrived during the week before or after the 8th. If the letter was mailed from a postal facility in South Florida close to the AMA building, how long would it likely take to be delivered? Obviously the answer to this question is important because of what happened on Tuesday, 9/11/01.

[Marysecretary]

The wheels of justice grind ever so slowly, Illbay. It's too obvious to them so they just keep meandering along.

[swarthyguy]

Investigation spiked from the top by the same crew that nixed the FBI Field agents memos and search requests.

Amazing the house and yard weren't searched thoroughly last year. Including allowing Masri and his kid to escape a week after 9/11.

OUr govt is totally corrupted by Saudi money.

Lat year, the dominant impulse in the Bush Govt was to downplay the extensive role of Saudis in 9/11.

[Cindy]

re post # 58: "FBI agents are investigating whether a Saudi man whose family abandoned their Palm Beach County home within days of the Sept. 11 attacks has links to Muslim groups they suspect helped bankroll that terror plot and others. Three federal sources told The Herald that agents searching the home of Mohamad Almasri were trying to trace possible financial ties to religious charities that authorities charge have secretly supported extremist attacks over the years. ''We're looking to see if there is any connection, financial or otherwise, to any terrorist organization, including the 9/11 hijackers, but it is all very preliminary,'' said a federal investigator familiar with the probe. The sources said agents -- who swarmed the house Tuesday to execute a sealed search warrant -- are looking into a range of possible ties, including whether one of those groups helped buy the home in Greenacres, a town in Palm Beach County. Almasri, 57, who told neighbors he was an engineer, paid $144,500 in cash to buy the new three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in June 2000. Neighbors say he lived half the year in Saudi Arabia and the other half in Greenacres with his wife and several children, including son Turki Ma Almasri, 22, who had been enrolled as a student at a Lantana flight school."

"I Remember September 11, 2001" (A Resource Link Site for citizens Remembering the attack on America, Archived Resource Information, Encouragement and Help links, and links of interest for CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT in Fighting Terrorism.) *ATTENTION RESEARCHERS: This 9-11 Site is updated on a regular basis and includes links to THE TALIBAN, JIHAD, SUICIDE-HOMICIDE BOMBERS and more.

[thinden]

thanx for the flags.

sorry I'm late to this one. it is interesting.

[Happy2BMe]

"More than a few Arab clans extend from Mauretania to Saudi Arabia, or from Lebanon to the Congo (to Detroit.)"

Detroit, Michigan has the largest Islamic population of any U.S. city.

[Cindy]

HERALD TRIBUNE.com (AP): "NEWSPAPER: SAUDI FAMILY 'BAFFLED' BY FBI'S SEARCH OF THEIR PALM BEACH HOME" (January 24, 2003)
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030124&Category=APN&ArtNo=301240712&Ref=AR

SUN-SENTINEL.com (AP): "SEARCH AT GREENACRES HOME TURNS UP NOTHING RELATED TO TERRORISM" (January 24, 2003)
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pfbi24jan24,0,2925201.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dpalm

[Ranger]

Strange. Good. Yet Strange.

[LO_IQ]

The FBI dropped the ball again.

The FBI takes 16 months to search this home, after being tipped by the neighbors about the hurried and bizarre departure of the former occupants.

Cold trail.

[thathamiltonwoman]

And it took the FBI how long to search this house? God help us all.