FIA nabs 22 Pakistanis in fake football team scam exposed in Japan

• Suspects say they had scheduled matches with Japanese club.
• Main suspect, Malik Waqas, arrested for organising scheme.
• Waqas registered fake club named Golden Football Trial.

GUJRANWALA: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested 22 men accused of posing as a professional football team after Japanese immigration authorities uncovered their forged travel documents and deported them.

The impersonators, dressed in football kits, claimed they were registered with the Pakistan Football Federation and had scheduled matches with a Japanese club.

However, during questioning, Japanese immigration officials detected the fraud and deported the group back to Pakistan.

The FIA said the main suspect, Malik Waqas, who had registered a fake football club under the name Golden Football Trial, has been arrested in Gujranwala.

The trafficker, Ali, was arrested by the FIA’s Composite Circle Gujranwala, a spokesman of the FIA Headquarters said on Tuesday.

According to the FIA spokesperson, further investigation is under way to trace and apprehend his facilitators involved in this racket. “The arrest of Waqas Ali is a significant development in the ongoing efforts to dismantle human trafficking networks operating in the country.”

A case has been registered at the FIA’s Gujranwala police station and further inquiries are ongoing. Investigators said the organisers charged each man Rs4 million for the trip.

Authorities said all 22 individuals were trained to act like professional players and provided with forged documents.

During questioning, Waqas admitted he had earlier sent 17 people to Japan in January 2024 using the same modus operandi.

It is pertinent to mention here that scores of Pakistanis leave the country through illegal routes in search of a better future every year, with some losing their lives in accidents along the way.

In a bid to combat human trafficking and enhance migration governance, the United Nations (UN) in Pakistan last month formally launched the Pakistan United Nations Network on Migration (UNNM).

The launch marked a significant step towards a unified, collaborative approach to migration governance and responding to the interconnected challenges of human trafficking and migrant smuggling.

The move was aligned with international frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

The joint programme contributes to the national efforts in the areas of migration management and governance and combating human trafficking and migrant smuggling with a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.