Updated: 8:28 a.m. EST January 22, 2003
Neighbors said the house, which had been searched two other times, was once the residence of a Saudi Arabian family that moved within days of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The Palm Beach County Tax Collector's Office Web site lists two owners for the home: Mohammed and Afaf Almasri.
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela of Miami said from the scene that a sealed search warrant was served. She declined further comment on the warrant, and also declined comment on the media reports.
Wilfredo Fernandez, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, also declined to comment on the media reports Tuesday night. And in Washington, a Justice Department official familiar with the search said it was part of an ongoing investigation and the department would have no comment.
Neighbors told The Associated Press that the FBI was last there a week or so ago, when agents posted a search warrant and entered the home.
"They must have found something, because they come today and all hell breaks loose," said Rodney Lamarca, who lives across the street with his wife Lorraine.
From television news helicopters, FBI agents were seen using metal detectors in the front yard and digging in the back yard. Agents were also seen bringing a trailer and boxes to store evidence.
The Lamarcas said they and other neighbors have worried about a connection with the hijacked airplane terrorist attacks.
"He bolted just before 9-11; haven't seen him since," Lamarca said of his former neighbor. "He told me he was an engineer in Saudi Arabia and traveled back and forth."
Lamarca said the family usually left for a month or so at a time, but when they left last time they didn't put up their hurricane shutters, which they usually did.
Lamarca said he became suspicious after 9-11 and had called the FBI three times. Other neighbors said they had called as well.
Neighbors said that before moving out abruptly, the residents of the home paid all of their bills in cash, including fees to their homeowner association for the gated neighborhood, part of Greenacres City, which is about is eight miles southwest of West Palm Beach.
At least 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had ties to Florida, with some seeking flight training here.
http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-192750720030122-040152.html