Fake IDs spark local FBI investigation

A simple arrest for public intoxication turned out to be much more than expected for the IU Police Department.\nAfter confiscating more than five different forms of identification from an Ivy Tech student around 1:30 a.m. Friday, Mohammed Alam, 20, of Varsity Lane, was taken to jail and the case was turned over to the FBI.\nAccording to jail logs, Alam also goes by the alias Azeez \nZohaib.\nAccording to IUPD reports, officers noticed Alam running and stumbling in the Waffle House parking lot. After he began to stagger toward the street, causing a car to apply the breaks to avoid a crash, officers began to question him. The officers noted Alam smelled of alcohol, had watery, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.\nAlam stated he was 23 years old but could not provide an address or further identification. He only knew he lived at "228 Indianapolis."\nAfter sensing Alam was acting extremely intoxicated, the officers patted him down and discovered a Virginia driver's license that didn't appear to look like him. They also found four other different forms of identification in his wallet.\nIUPD Lt. Jerry Minger said because of the suspicious nature of the way Alam was acting, it was advised the IUPD contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation.\n"It is noted in the police report that he appeared suspicious from the start," Minger said. "Because of the terrorist incidents before, we thought it was best to advise the FBI, because we couldn't even determine the identity of this individual."\nFBI spokeswoman Wendy Osborne said anytime the FBI is conducting investigations, the agency cannot confirm or deny it is conducting them. However, she said, in this case, she knew people would be worried about relations to terrorism.\n"I definitely want to say that the FBI has no reason to suspect this individual has any connection to terrorism," Osborne said.\nOsborne said the FBI's role in the case is complete, and the information has been passed on to the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, who will "work to find out why Alam had multiple ID's."\nSgt. Sutter of the Monroe County Correctional Center said Alam is currently being held in jail without bond.\nOfficials from the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division could not be reached for comment. The office was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Lori Geller at lfgeller@indiana.edu.