Feds raid software company
The FBI, IRS, Secret Service and other agencies search a Massachusetts tech company, reportedly as part of an ongoing investigation into terrorism.
Ptech, based in Quincy, Mass., develops analysis software that help model business processes. Its Web site boasts a client list with a number of government bodies, including the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Naval Air Systems Command and NATO.
The company's offices were searched late Thursday night by a team including officers from the Customs Service, the FBI, the IRS, the Secret Service and the Massachusetts State Police.
News reports said the search was linked to a probe into Saudi businesspeople accused of financing the al-Qaida terrorist network. But U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan in a statement called those reports "premature," saying only that the search was conducted in connection with an "ongoing financial criminal investigation."
The company's Web site says it is privately held and does not reveal its investors. Ptech representatives did not return calls.
Sullivan's office said that all of the software used by government agencies was of a "non-classified nature," but that as a precaution, the agencies conducted a review of their software systems.
"The material has been reviewed by the appropriate government agencies, and they have detected absolutely nothing in their reports to the White House that would lead to any concern about any of the products purchased from this company," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a press briefing Friday.