Replies

Re: ID numbers on SCUBA air tanks.

I don't think it would be possible to grind the numbers off without affecting the integrity of the tank.

Rickylc- Remember this report? The part about the "rebreather" equipment and about water intake valves may be relevant.

FBI puts scuba dive shops, schools on terrorism alert

By Karen Brandon
Tribune national correspondent
Published June 6, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- The FBI has begun a nationwide canvass of shops that offer scuba
diving instruction based on information that "various terrorist elements have
sought to develop an offensive scuba diver capability."

Scuba shops in some regions are now receiving the same level of scrutiny that
has been aimed at flight schools in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, when the
schools discovered that they had trained the hijackers who took over the four
commercial jets on that day.

"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," the bureau said in a recent
bulletin.

The FBI is acting on information gleaned from prisoners being held at the U.S.
naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman
in Washington.

"Scuba dive equipment was something [terrorists] had shown interest in
acquiring in efforts to plan a future attack," he said.

The inquiries come as the bureau, the subject of criticism that it failed to
react to warnings before Sept. 11, begins to shift its mission and culture from
catching criminals after the fact to preventing attacks.

Shops and the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, which certifies
the majority of the nation's divers, said they are providing the FBI with the
names of adult students certified to scuba dive within the United States during
the past three years, a list that would include an estimated 2 million people.
The FBI is also seeking the names of any students who may have begun classes
and then dropped out.

John Iannarelli, an FBI agent in San Diego, said the bureau is checking to see
if any names correspond with the FBI's list of potential or known terrorists.
So far, he said Wednesday, no terrorist connection had been made.

The FBI has said that it will focus more on prevention-oriented investigations,
and along that line dive shop owners were told to be on the lookout for
students who seemed suspicious or asked peculiar questions.

"If someone asks, `How would I dive in murky water?' that would be suspicious,"
said Werner Kurn, chief executive officer of Ocean Enterprises, which has
diving shops around the world, including one in San Diego just blocks from
where four hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks lived.

Patrick Hammer, a longtime scuba diver from the Chicago area who owns the Scuba
Emporium, with shops in southwest suburban Alsip and Orland Park, said he
considered the probe valid.

"I never thought about mischief underwater, but as soon as I read about [the
FBI warning], I started thinking about the Lake Michigan water intakes and I
thought, `Holy smokes!'" said Hammer, who had been contacted about the
investigation by an international diving association but not by the FBI. "A
diver could sneak in and really hurt us."

But Darrell Moore, a former member of the Navy's elite SEAL teams from San
Diego, said: "I don't see a single swimmer bringing in enough explosives to do
a lot of damage. You can only carry so much with you."

He and others said they believed there was potential to do greater damage with
boats. By way of example, they cited the terrorist attack two years ago in
Yemen against the USS Cole as well as the accident last month in Oklahoma in
which a barge plowed into a bridge over the Arkansas River, cutting off
Interstate Highway 40.

Scuba diving is relatively easy to learn, and instruction can be accomplished
in an intensive weekend, divers said. In addition, certification instruction is
widely available, and certifications earned abroad are recognized in the U.S.

"It doesn't take a lot of time. It doesn't take a lot of money. And, it's not
difficult," said Barry Block, a master instructor at Adventures in Scuba on
Fullerton Avenue.

Still, some scuba experts acknowledged that the equipment now available to
recreational divers made the sport a potential route for terrorism. For
instance, recreational divers now have access to rebreathers, lightweight
devices that combine oxygen and exhaled air from the diver. The tanks, which
are much lighter than traditional tanks, allow divers to stay underwater longer
and they eliminate the tell-tale bubbles usually produced by traditional scuba
diving. Though used for decades by the military, the rebreathers are relatively
new to recreational divers, who use them to be able to get closer to marine
animals.

Scuba divers also have access to so-called diver propulsion vehicles. These
battery-powered vehicles, bullet-shaped contraptions some 5 feet in length, can
propel a diver at speeds of more than 3 miles per hour.

Kurn said investigators have asked questions about Middle Eastern men, anyone
buying rebreather tanks or the propulsion vehicles. Most of the propulsion
vehicles his business sold were purchased by Cirque du Soleil, he said, which
uses them in one of its Las Vegas shows.

Before the FBI appeared, he said, "Terrorism never crossed my mind."

"But now that I'm thinking about it, I think, `Wow, they could really do
that.'"

Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune

If the tank was stolen from the other side of the world, it would never make the stolen lists in the U.S. and there is a lot of theft from the military bases.

Could it be there were 2 divers and one took off with the tank and belt, after the other went too deep and died?

I read a report last night on diving, the first diver went too deep, got in trouble and when he came up to his partner's level, the partner attempted to bring him up and talked of throwing off belt and tanks, to get to the top.

It was from a training site and I didn't keep the address.