THE Qatar Taekwondo Federation Wednesday revoked visas issued to 16 persons, who fraudulently obtained the documents by posing as members of the Nigeria Taekwondo national team billed to attend the prestigious First Qatar International Taekwondo Opens, a G-1 ranked World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) event. The event will hold from March 6 to 9.

  Incidentally, some members of the actual Nigeria national taekwondo team, who won medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, are also billed to compete for Nigeria at the event.

 The unscrupulous scheme was uncovered by the International Department of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation’s [NTF] drive to tackle visa racketeering through sports head-on. Part of the NTF’s measures is a constant check on the websites of international ranked tournaments to see if there are any suspicious names registered as members of the Nigeria Taekwondo Community.

  A routine check earlier this week revealed the registration of 16 persons not in any way associated with taekwondo in Nigeria. Unknown to the perpetrators, the Qatar Taekwondo Federation has an existing relationship with the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, who immediately contacted their Middle Eastern counterparts to checkmate the fraudsters.

  To disguise the fraud in their application to the Qatar authorities, the impersonators signed off their emails in the name of the current President of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation, George Ashiru, and gave the correct address of the Nigeria Taekwondo Federation office located at the National Stadium, Lagos. 

In a confirmation email to fraudsters in which the NTF was copied, the Qatar Taekwondo Federation noted:

“Please note that the attached visas are no longer valid. It has been cancelled due to special instructions issued by non-validity of these visas. Accordingly, we would like to inform you not to use these visas and if used by anyone would not be allowed to enter the State of Qatar.”