An Area 51 investigator said his home was raided by the FBI and the U.S. Air Force, who seized all his computers.
Joerg Arnu leads the Dreamland Resort website dedicated to the goings on at the mysterious Nevada base, but said he was the victim of a “humiliating raid”.
Anru said his homes in Las Vegas and also in the city of Rachel were searched by a “combined team” of the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
On the website, he said that “at least 15 to 20 officers rummaged through our homes and approximately 8 vehicles at each location.”
“I’ll spare you the details, but it got pretty exciting and humiliating for me in Rachel and for my girlfriend in Vegas,” he said.
“All my laptops, phones, memory sticks, cameras, drones and other belongings have been confiscated.
‘When it was all over, I was left in Rachel with two broken doors, broken furniture in the house and no means of communicating.
“Our house in Vegas fared a little better, with only a broken front door and broken blinds.”
Arnu said he lost “ALL my data, medical records, financial and tax records, passwords, everything” in the process.
“As far as I know, I have not broken the law,” he said.
“The search warrants are not very specific, but aerial photographs of Area 51 and other installations emerged repeatedly.
“So I removed that for now to defuse the situation.”
Arnu said he is now “stuck with thousands in costs for repairs and replacement of most essential electronics and expected legal fees.”
“I will speak to a lawyer tomorrow about how to proceed,” he said.
The FBI’s Las Vegas office has been contacted for comment.
German-born Arnu moved to the United States in 1995 after studying electrical engineering and worked in Silicone Valley.
His lifelong interest in aviation led him to research Area 51 and name his website after the radio call sign of the restricted airspace.
Over the years, he has appeared in countless Area 51 documentaries and TV shows and contributed material and expertise to dozens of productions.
Area 51 is located in the southern part of Nevadajust 133 miles northwest of Vegas.
It is the common name of a top secret U.S. Air Force facility within the Nevada Test and Training Range.
Conspiracy theorists believe the facility is used to store, research and reverse engineer crashed alien spacecraft, including material supposedly recovered during the Roswell crash of the 1950s.
The so-called Roswell incident is one of the most debated and controversial UFO theories in history.
Many believe the air base is home to the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems.
The US Air Force acquired the site in 1955.
However, the CIA did not acknowledge the facility’s existence until June 2013, following a 2005 Freedom of Information Act request.
The base was a testing ground for many top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.
Declassified documents say it was originally an area where Army Air Corps pilots could practice their aerial gunnery.
During the Cold War, experimental aircraft, such as the high-altitude U-2 spy plane, and weapons systems were tested there.
The current use of Area 51 is still unknown and remains top secret.