A liquor store employee foiled an underaged pair from purchasing beer with fake identification.

Bismarck Police Sgt. Dwight Offerman said one man showed the clerk at Cash Wise Liquor, 1144 E. Bismarck Expressway, his identification card while attempting to buy a 30-pack of Busch Light on Thursday evening.

The clerk could tell the card was fake, so he confiscated it and told the man to leave the store, Offerman said. He said the second man then showed his ID, still in his wallet. The clerk asked to see it out of his wallet, and the second man admitted that his, too, was fake, Offerman said.

The men left without the beer.

Offerman said the case remains under investigation. He did not know how the clerk knew the cards were fake, but he commended him for the catches.

"They did a great job. The alcohol was not sold to unauthorized people," Offerman said. "That's exactly what the goal of alcohol compliance is."

- Jenny Michael