Japan police arrest Pakistani migrant for assaulting girl in Tokyo

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to find news reports on the incident.

Posts from users on social media platform X on August 6, 2025 were claiming that a Pakistani migrant was arrested by authorities in Tokyo for assaulting a girl. However, the news is old and the incident occurred in September 2024.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 6, a right-wing British account, as apparent from its past posts, shared an image of a man surrounded by police officers on X.

The caption of the post said: “Breaking news: A Pakistani migrant who tried to rape a schoolgirl in Tokyo was arrested. Even in Japan…”

The post gained 2.5 million views.

Users, predominantly Indian, also circulated a Japanese bulletin video of the alleged arrest.

The claim was also shared here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the involvement of Pakistani migrants in any criminal activity.

A reverse image search yielded an X post by conservative Australian news outlet The Noticer, featuring the same photo as the original claim.

Dated September 14, 2024, the post contained a link to a news story by the outlet titled, “Pakistani, 31, accused of raping a Tokyo high school girl after groping her on a train”.

According to the report, Afzal Muhammad, a 31-year-old Pakistani Muslim, was arrested by Tokyo authorities on September 11, 2024, for sexually assaulting a girl on a train on August 22, 2024.

The incident was also reported by Japanese news outlets, such as Jiji News, NTV News, and Sankei, however, the links to their reports were broken for unknown reasons.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that authorities arrested a Pakistani migrant for sexually assaulting a girl in Japan is misleading.

The incident actually occurred back in September 2024.

Evidence and References

September 15, 2024, The Noticer report:
https://www.noticer.news/pakistani-tokyo-japan-train-sexual-assault/

September 11, 2024, X post:
https://x.com/jijicom/status/1833763040074043522

September 12, 2024, X post:
https://x.com/news24ntv/status/1834049678922715632

September 11, 2024, X post:
https://x.com/Sankei_news/status/1833766613755310091