Just days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, new information has emerged about links between the hijackers and a family of Saudis living in Florida,
The Miami Herald reported Thursday.
The family suddenly abandoned their luxury home near Sarasota two weeks before the 2001 attacks, leaving a brand-new car in the driveway and a refrigerator full of food, the Herald said.
Investigators soon discovered that the house had been visited by vehicles that were used by some of the terrorists who flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
There were also phone calls between the home and the hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, but that information was never disclosed to the public or Congress and was not mentioned in the 9/11 Commission Report, the Herald said.
Former Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who co-chaired the congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks, said he should have been informed.
It “opens the door to a new chapter of investigation as to the depth of the Saudi role in 9/11,” he told the paper. “No information relative to the named people in Sarasota was disclosed.”
The Herald identified the Saudi residents who had been residing at the house as Abdulazzi al-Hiijjii and his wife, Anoud. At the time, the house was owned by Anoud’s father, Esam Ghazzawi. It was sold in 2003.
The paper said the Saudi family could not be reached, and the Justice Department refused to comment on the matter.
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