NEW BEDFORD —Federal agents today were processing the New Bedford apartment where two friends of the accused marathon bomber lived, closing off the entire building with crime scene tape and taking boxes from the first-floor flat.

Dressed in what appeared to be disposable, hazmat-like suits,agents with Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the FBI set up operations in the rear of the building where the two unidentified men were arrested Saturday for what authorities called immigration violations.

It’s unclear what authorities were looking for but an agent told a reporter the entire building was off-limits. Neighbors said agents arrived this morning, as early as 9 a.m., and had spent the subsequent hours carrying boxes out to a nearby trailer and working at a table on the lawn.

Shortly before 2 p.m., a local animal control officer responded to the scene to remove what he said was a bearded dragon lizard. Federal agents removed the lizard in a small box, which the animal control officer put in a pet carrier before driving away.

Shounak Bhosekar, 24, who lives in an adjacent building, said authorities dressed in the “bee-keeper”-like suits had been putting items in boxes throughout the morning.

Another neighbor, 55-year-old Antoinette Garcia, said the sight of police flocking to the complex has been commonplace since Friday, when authorities first detained three people from the apartment before returning the next day to arrest the two men.

Other agents continued to arrive at the otherwise quiet, controlled scene this afternoon as residents went about their normal routines in nearby buildings.

A New Bedford police officer at one point told reporters they had to leave the apartment complex property and move to the public street, or risk being arrested.