06:10 PM CST on Friday, March 31, 2006
(KMOV) - Deputies were called to this remote area of southern Washington County to check out "suspicious activity."
Nazar Malla
The deputies in found Nazar Malla, 36, with a couple stolen cars and a u-haul truck.
But as they started investigating his past they found out he's a former soldier from the Iraqi army and can't give them a good reason why he's in Missouri.
It happened outside Irondale in southern Washington County.
The sheriff said when deputies arrived that night they found Malla about 50 yards off the road by himself, but there were four vehicles. When they asked him how that could be the sheriff says his answer just didn't make sense.
"He would tell one story one time than the next time you'd ask him the same question and it would be something totally different," said Sheriff Kevin Schroeder.
Malla is from Dearborn, Michigan, but when deputies checked out the cars they found two were stolen, one out of Michigan, another out of St. Louis.
"We received information talking with him he was an Iraqi citizen, he served in the Iraqi army in their artillery and then became a naturalized citizen of the united states," said Schroeder.
For deputies red flags seemed to be going up everywhere when they started processing the stolen cars.
Schroeder says Malla had wired about $25,000 through Jordan to Iraq, but it wasn't clear who was getting the money.
"Once we started getting all these facts together, the fact that vehicles were stolen, he's in the u-haul truck in the middle of nowhere, and the wire transfers, we immediately notified the FBI," added Schroeder.
Malla was charged with "vehicle tampering" and bonded out.
The police in Dearborn, Michigan, said Malla's record includes a few minor offenses, mostly traffic violations.
The FBI is now handling the investigation.
(I hope they have the tracking chip stuck up his ass)