| 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 destruction of the World Trade Center towers in New York, according to sources on Capitol Hill. FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the bureau tipped off "appropriate" members of Congress about this week's search. More than a dozen agents examined the gray single-family house on Doral Drive on Tuesday and Wednesday, scanning the ground with metal detectors, digging in the yard and towing a car away. 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 public is not in danger," Orihuela said. "It's not a safety hazard issue." The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Embassy in Washington, D.C., is aware of the investigation because of media inquiries but has not been contacted by the FBI, a spokeswoman said. As the FBI agents worked, some neighbors said it was about time they showed up. Lisa Dickerson, 43, whose mother lives next door to the al-Masri house, 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 reports by neighbors. Neighborhood association President Dave Remsen said he learned a few months ago that FBI officials were looking at the house al-Masri bought in June of 2000. Neighbor Kristina Daddio said she saw a locksmith at the house last week. Some neighbors are suspicious 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 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 hurriedly 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. 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, many were Saudi Arabian. Someone called the Greenacres Police Department on Aug. 15, 2002, to ask an officer to check out the al-Masri house. Staff Writers Kathy Bushouse, C. Ron Allen and William E. Gibson contributed to this report. Sam Tranum can be reached at stranum@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6522. |
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Detroit, Michigan has the largest Islamic population of any U.S. city.