London stakeout: More sting operations against Pak Olympic squad in the works?

Exposes involve team members testing positive, establishing illegal links.

LAHORE:

With Pakistan’s participation in the Olympics already hurt by the infamous passport ‘scam’, more staged ‘exposes’ could be in the works, if reports from the UK shared with The Express Tribune are to be believed.

According to sources, two British newspapers – whose names have been withheld by The Express Tribune, but intimated to the Pakistan High Commission in London – have planned another sting operation against Pakistan’s delegation at the Games.

Squad members, however, remains unaware of these plans.

Reports say that the operation involves three options – and any one of the three, whichever one materialises, will be used as an ‘expose.’ The tasks have been handed over to different journalists, known to have worked on ‘anti-Pakistan’ stories in the past. The deadline set for these tasks is the last day of the Olympics – August 12.

Sources told The Express Tribune that one option involves bribing a member of the Pakistani Olympic delegation to seek asylum in the UK. Before team members left for the Olympics, all were made to pay surety bonds against the possibility of seeking asylum in the UK. The bond, posted in Pakistan, will be paid by one of the newspapers for the one who will seek asylum, according to the plan. Those familiar with the development also revealed that the prime target could be a prominent member of the national hockey team, since an expose involving a star player would be considered a relatively larger ‘scoop’.

The second option involves getting a member of the Pakistani contingent to test positive in a drug test. Sources said that this plan would be executed using a waiter at a restaurant. Those familiar with the matter revealed that the waiter would be paid and tasked with slipping an illegal substance into the food or drink of one of the players.

The third option, the vaguest of the lot, will look to establish a link between a Pakistan delegation member and a banned outfit, sources in the UK said.

Sources fear the operations have already been initiated.

Regarding the first option, sources claimed that, a few days ago, an Iftar party was arranged by a bank where at least three well-known journalists, described as ‘anti-Pakistan,’ were invited. This platform, claimed sources, was to be used for ‘infiltration’ and ‘recruiting assets’ for executing the operation.

Similarly, said sources, the Pakistan delegation had recently visited a South Asian restaurant for a meal, where the second option could have been executed.

The British tabloid community is particularly focusing on the Pakistan Olympic team, according to the sources, and a number of British Pakistanis have been approached to ‘help’ in this regard.

On July 23, British tabloid The Sun broke a story on a ‘visa scam’ giving potential terrorists to sneak into the UK with the Pakistani Olympic delegation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2012.