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FBI in Pakistan to unravel photo mysteryFBI official: 'It sure looks like him'
LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- FBI officials have arrived in Pakistan to interview a Lahore jeweler who says he is wrongly pictured in an FBI alert for five men who allegedly entered the United States illegally. Officials do not yet know when they can talk to the man, Mohammed Asghar, a 33-year-old father of three, and it was unclear how they would go about verifying his claim. "We're going to be working with and through Pakistani authorities," one official said. Asghar told CNN he was "heartbroken" to be pictured in the alert and does not know how his photograph came to be posted on the FBI's Web site. "I don't have a clue," he said. "This is my photograph. I am the same person. ... I don't know how the FBI got my photograph." Asghar once used a fake British passport to go Abu Dhabi, which resulted in his deportation back to Pakistan. He had intended to travel to London in the hope of making money, he said. "It sure looks like him," acknowledged a senior FBI official. Asghar said his date of birth -- December 11, 1969 -- is even the same one the FBI is providing for the man in the picture. A U.S. administration official said the five FBI photographs came from a man in Canada, Michael John Hamdani, who was arrested in Canada about two months ago on charges of running a passport and travelers' check scam. Hamdani is alleged to have ties to the illegal smuggling of aliens. Authorities have said they believe the five men entered the United States from Canada, but exactly how is not known. A law enforcement source said one theory being pursued is that the five entered the United States through an Indian reservation that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border. The St. Regis Mohawk Reservation extends across the St. Lawrence River. While the source said it is a "distinct possibility" the men entered there, officials said there is no concrete evidence to back up the theory. The FBI field office in Albany, N.Y., refused comment. Law enforcement officials said the reservation lends itself to illegal entry into the United States. In 1998, investigators broke up an international smuggling ring involving Chinese immigrants being taken through the reservation. Asghar said he bought his fake passport from an "agent" that he never saw again. "I don't know anything about the picture," Asghar said. "Maybe someone gave it to them or someone had put the picture on a Web site. What can I say about this?" U.S. law enforcement officials readily concede uncertainty about the names and photographs of people whose very specialty is alleged to be the production of fraudulent travel and identification documents. From the start, the FBI has warned that the pictures and names of the five men in its bulletin could be fictitious. Asghar said he was surprised when he picked up a Pakistani newspaper and saw his picture, identified as Mustafa Khan Owasi, along with the four others. He said he has not seen the other four men. The FBI says it believes the five men entered the United States on or around December 24. ( Full story) Asghar said he was in a Lahore market that day, and has never even been to the United States. Asghar said he was deeply troubled and "heartbroken" that the FBI had distributed his picture that way. He has even contemplated committing suicide, he said, and has fears about what might happen to him if the FBI takes him into custody. Picture remains on FBI Web site"I am really afraid of what Americans will do with me," he said. "I am really sick. I am a heart patient. I am not feeling well." U.S. President George W. Bush said Thursday that authorities were looking into Asghar's case. "I'm kind of curious to know why he needs a false passport," Bush told reporters. "If people have a feeling that they have to travel here with false passports, it sends a pretty alarming signal to those of us who are involved with the security of the country." Despite the possibility of the photograph being false, the search for the five men and a number of associates believed to be a U.S. administration official said law enforcement remains focused on finding the five men. The question of possible damage to the credibility of the manhunt, the official said, is not of primary concern. For now, the official said, the picture remains on the FBI Web site. -- CNN's Terry Frieden, Jeanne Meserve, Kevin Bohn, and Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report.
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