Kathmandu – In a bizarre and shocking case of human trafficking, 22 individuals posing as members of a fake Pakistani national football team were arrested in Japan.
The group had entered the country wearing counterfeit team jerseys and carrying falsified documents, including a No Objection Certificate (NOC) they claimed was issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry.
Japanese immigration authorities grew suspicious during questioning and uncovered the deception. All 22 individuals were promptly deported back to Pakistan. According to Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Japanese officials had detected the fraud early on and acted swiftly to prevent the scam from succeeding.
What remains puzzling, however, is how the group managed to board a flight from Pakistani airports without raising any red flags. A report by Geo News noted that it’s still unclear how the fake team passed through Pakistani immigration undetected.
Further investigation revealed that the entire scheme was masterminded by Malik Waqas, a resident of Pasrur in the Sialkot region. He had set up a fake football club called “Golden Football Trial” to lure people into paying large sums between 4 to 4.5 million Pakistani Rupees (approximately $13,000–$15,000 USD) for the promise of a better life abroad.
Authorities say this wasn’t Waqas’s first attempt. Back in January 2024, he reportedly used forged documents and a fake invitation letter from a Japanese football club, Boavista FC, to send 17 people to Japan. None of them have returned.
The case sheds light on how far human traffickers are willing to go — even faking a national sports team — to exploit those desperate to leave the country, and raises serious questions about security lapses at major airports.
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