ISLAMABAD, Sep 17:  Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has uncovered a large-scale human trafficking racket in which 22 men posed as professional footballers in an attempt to illegally enter Japan using forged documents.

According to FIA officials, the suspects were intercepted after being deported by Japanese immigration authorities, who grew suspicious during routine questioning at the airport. The men had been dressed in full football kits and presented themselves as members of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF). They also carried counterfeit no-objection certificates (NOCs) purportedly issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The case has raised serious questions about how the group managed to clear immigration checks at Pakistan’s airports with such forged credentials.

Investigations have identified Malik Waqas of Pasroor, Sialkot, as the ringleader. Waqas allegedly created a fake football club named Golden Football Trial, through which he recruited participants and charged each between Rs 4 million and Rs 4.5 million for the promise of travel to Japan disguised as athletes.

The FIA’s Composite Circle in Gujranwala arrested Waqas on September 15 and has since registered multiple cases against him, according to a report by Geo News.

Officials revealed that this was not Waqas’s first such operation. In January 2024, he reportedly sent 17 men to Japan using the same method. Each had secured a 15-day visa based on falsified invitations from a supposed Japanese club, Boavista FC. None of those individuals returned to Pakistan.

Authorities further disclosed that Waqas trained the men to convincingly mimic the mannerisms and routines of professional football players, hoping this would help them pass immigration scrutiny.

“Waqas’s arrest is a breakthrough in dismantling human trafficking networks exploiting Pakistanis under the guise of sports,” FIA Gujranwala Director Muhammad Bin Ashraf said in a statement.

The FIA has launched further investigations to identify Waqas’s facilitators, both within Pakistan and abroad, who may have enabled the scheme. Officials stressed that dismantling such trafficking networks is critical to protecting vulnerable citizens from exploitation under false pretenses.