Tanker drivers in the southeast should be on the lookout for a suspicious individual seen snooping around trucks.

According to the Transportation Security Operations Center with the Department of Homeland Security, a suspicious individual has been spotted at truck stops and fuel stations in Ft. Myers, FL; Ringo, GA, and Tampa, FL, in the past year.

The individual was most recently seen on May 27 at a gas station in Tampa. He approached a tanker truck that was unloading fuel at the station and began asking the driver questions. The driver told the man to leave the area. He had just started to call the police when the man left.

The driver in that case said the man matched the description of a man seen at another fueling station in Ft. Myers, FL, in April. That man also approached a tanker truck driver unloading fuel and began to ask questions about the truck and its capacity. He also began recording the undercarriage of the trailer with a small video camera and took notes in a small notebook.

And yet another driver reported a similar incident about a year ago in Ringo, GA. This time there were two suspicious individuals who were taking pictures of tanker trucks. Witnesses who contacted the Department of Homeland Security in May said one of the men matched a picture taken from a surveillance camera in the Ft. Myers incident.

Don Rondeau, of the DHS, said that, while no illegal activities have been connected with the two men, truckers are being asked to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.

One man is described as being tall and skinny with a beard. The other is about 6-7 inches shorter, with dark, short, wavy hair, in his early 50s with good language skills.

Anyone with further information should contact Special Agent Jim Myers of the Southwest Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force at (239) 278-7080, Ext. 213.