A well-connected Saudi family hosted frequent 9/11 terrorist visits to their home in Sarasota, Florida, while they were in flight training in the area, according to documents released by the FBI in 2013.
And while they were training for the devastating attack that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent people 20 years ago, they were not doing so in brutality.
Located in the exclusive Prestance community, where Michael Jordan rented a house, the residence was owned by Esam Ghazzawi, a prominent Saudi interior designer, businessman and consultant with long-standing ties to the Saudi royal family.
Ghazzawi’s daughter, Anoud al-Hijji, and her husband, Abudlazziz al-Hijji, lived there with their two young children.
The tropical housing, which was a high meeting place, is quiet, with four bedrooms and three bathrooms spread over a spacious property of 3,750 square meters. It is located in a community of enclosed golf courses, which residents promote for their first-class “safety”.
Despite denying any involvement with the terrorists, al-Hijjis abruptly fled their home in Sarasota in a hurry two weeks before the 9/11 attacks.
“They left valuables, clothing, jewelry and food in a way that indicated they were fleeing unexpectedly without prior preparation or knowledge,” an FBI analyst wrote.
A 2002 note from an FBI field agent with the Southwest Florida National Security Working Group noted “many connections” between al-Hijji and three of the kidnappers: Mohamed Atta, Ziad Jarrah and Marwan. Alshehhi, according to the Herald-Tribune. The three learned to fly planes at Huffman Aviation in the nearby city of Venice. The records indicate them as frequent visitors to the al-Hijji house.
Atta and Alshehhi were the two men in the cabins when the planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center.
At the time, the FBI had been trying to hide the Saudi connection for years until the document recently released in 2013 proved otherwise.
In August 2019, U.S. District Court Judge William Zloch ruled that the FBI had illegally withheld, for the past seven years, a narrow window of detail from his investigation into what happened. at the al-Hijji house.
None of the information pertaining to al-Hijji was included in the “September 11 Commission Report” published in 2004. These records were only obtained after the Florida Bulldog, a journalism watchdog of online research, submit an application for the Freedom of Information Act. the official books were closed and with the help of Florida Senator Bob Graham.
Graham had been informed of the more specific conditions in which the al-Hijji left the house. He described them as “urgent conditions: a new car left in front of the house, food in the fridge and clothes in the washing machine.” Toys floated in the pool, dirty diapers were in the bathroom, and clothes and jewelry were left in closets and drawers.
“More research on the [al-Hijji] the family revealed many connections between the [al-Hijji family] and people associated with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, “a portion of the FBI’s 2013 declassified documents stated.
The FBI had determined that the couple, along with Anoud’s father, had left the United States and were returning to Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
In 2003, however, Anoud and his mother quietly returned to Sarasota, paid homeowners’ fees, and arranged the sale of the house.
The house was sold in October 2003 for $ 440,000 and appeared on the market two months later, in December, for $ 589,000, according to property records. It was last sold for $ 450,000 in 2015.
Ghazzawi initially bought the Florida home in 1995.
While her daughter lived at home with her husband, Anoud wore a 10-carat heart-shaped diamond ring and Westernized clothing, Sarasota magazine reports.
She and her husband, Abdulazzi, had three cars: a Range Rover, a Lexus and a brand new PT Cruiser. Neighbors revealed that they did not socialize much with them and the family did not belong to the Prestancia country club. But they enjoyed going to the movies at Sarasota Square Mall.
The house was decorated with ornaments, with Persian rugs on the floor, statues and expensive furniture.
The house has undergone renovations over the years since the al-Hijjis left the property.
Other terrorists involved in 9/11 frequented another Sarasota home in the city of Nokomis.
More recently, the brain brother behind the attacks, Osama Bin Laden, listed his long Bel-Air home.