- Suspects say they had planned matches with the Japanese club.
- Main Primeover, Malik Waqas, arrested for organizing the scheme.
- Waqas registered fake club named Golden Football Trial.
GUJRANWALA: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested 22 men accused of having stood as a professional football team after Japanese immigration authorities revealed their counterfeit travel documents and deported them.
The impacts, dressed in football sets, claimed they were registered with Pakistan Football Federation and had planned matches with a Japanese club.
During the interrogation, however, Japanese immigration officials discovered fraud and deported the group back to Pakistan.
The FIA said the biggest suspect, Malik Waqas, who had registered a fake football club under the name Golden Football Trial, has been arrested in Gujranwala.
A case has been registered on FIA’s Gujranwala police station and further investigations are ongoing. Investigators said the organizers accused every man RS4 million for the trip.
Authorities said all 22 people were trained to act as professional players and provided with counterfeit documents.
During the interrogation, Waqas admitted that he had previously sent 17 people to Japan in January 2024 using the same Modus Operandi.
