Did Sarasota Family Have Ties to 9/11 Terrorists?

A special report by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune renews questions about a Sarasota family's possible ties to the 9/11 highjackers who trained at a Venice flight school.

The Herald Tribune's article was published after the Broward Bulldog, an investigative journalism website, reported on newly released FBI documents on the al-Hijji family and its activities leading up to the attacks.

In an article headlined FBI records say Sarasota Saudis who fled home had “many connections” to individuals tied to 9/11, the Broward Bulldog reports that the records:

"...cast new light on one of the remaining unresolved mysteries regarding Florida’s many connections to the 9/11 attacks: what went on before the attacks at 4224 Escondito Circle, the home of Abdulaziz al-Hijji and his family before the attacks."

Anoud and Abdulazziz al-Hijji abruptly left their home of six years at the Prestancia Estates in south Sarasota, in the week prior to the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They left behind most of their belongings and no forwarding address. (The al-Hijjis, who have ties to the Saudi royal family, have denied knowing the hijackers.)

Their home was owned by a businessman with connections to the Bin Laden Group, according to the Herald-Tribune.

Newly released FBI documents that detail the investigation into the terrorism attacks identify the al-Hijji home and street address, but redact the family's name, accrding to the newspaper report.

According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the FBI documents note:

“Further investigation of the (name deleted) family revealed many connections between the (name deleted) and individuals associated with the terror attacks on 9/11/2001.”

The declassified documents also make note of the family's hasty departure. Yet the FBI concluded, at least publicly at the time, that the al-Hijji family had no connection to the hijackers.

The Broward Bulldog notes that:

"Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, co-chair of Congress’s Joint Inquiry into the attacks a decade ago, has said the FBI did not disclose the existence of the Sarasota investigation to Congress or the 9/11 Commission."

Florida's political leaders have long raised questions about whether U.S. officials have fully revealed their knowledge about those who had connections to the terroists and 9/11 attacks.

The Herald-Tribune reports that:

Six weeks after 9/11, agents found that Prestancia's digital scan system had picked up at least two license plates registered to (Mohammed) Atta and Ziad Jarrah, another 9/11 terrorist, who had allegedly visited the Escondito Circle house in the months leading up to the attacks. The men purportedly identified themselves to security guards. But the declassified FBI records say the agency “appears not to have obtained the vehicle entry records of the gated community.”

[Updated: April 19, 2013.]

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