FBI is checking out nation's dive shops

MIAMI, June 4 (UPI) -- Federal agents have been visiting and calling dive shops in the Florida Keys asking them to report anybody who may be trying to learn how to scuba dive in order to carry out a terrorist attack, the FBI said Tuesday.

"It's mostly to educate and inform the dive shops," FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said. "They're told to call the FBI about anything that's suspicious."

She said they were finishing up in the Keys, and will move north to the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach areas soon.

The effort is under way nationwide, but Florida is a focal point because it is one of the leading dive states. The FBI issued its initial warning May 23 without going into specifics.

"While there is no evidence of operational planning to utilize scuba divers to carry out attacks within the United States, there is a body of information showing the desire to obtain such capability," an FBI statement said.

Agents are not just looking for suspicious dive students, such as the flight students who eventually carried out the Sept. 11 hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They are also looking for large purchases of equipment such as oxygen tanks.

"They didn't ask a lot of questions," said Doug Austin, manager of Austin's diving center south of Miami. "They just wanted to know if anyone fitting the description had come in, that kind of thing."

Michael Dunn of Divers Cove in Davie, Fla., applauded the effort.

"Hey, if they can take out the World Trade Center, what's to say they can't target another major part of our infrastructure that could disrupt the economy, like a bridge in New York or Boston," Dunn said. "Or what about a cruise ship?"