An individual named Waqas Ali has been arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly trafficking Pakistani citizens to Japan under the pretext of a football team. Ali arranged short-term Japanese visas for 17 individuals by presenting them as football players. The visa applications included fabricated documents, including a forged letter from the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) and a fake No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The group traveled to Japan on January 1, 2024, and has not yet returned. It is believed the tour was a cover for illegal immigration. The FIA reports the operation leveraged sports exchanges and cultural tours to bypass visa protocols. The individuals involved reportedly paid a significant amount of money for this scheme. Authorities are now scrutinizing financial trails and the authenticity of documents to uncover the full extent of the fraudulent operations.
