SHOCKING: Expelled Pakistani terror suspect captained Italy cricket team

New Delhi: In a sensational revelation, Italian media on Wednesday reported that a Pakistani man who was expelled from Italy used to captain their national youth cricket team.

Aftab Farook allegedly plotted terror attack in Italy in the name of Islamic State (IS). He was caught on a wire-tap talking about using a Kalashnikov or bomb to attack targets such as a wine shop in Milan or the airport of Bergamo in northern Italy.

The 26-year-old warehouse worker reportedly said that important thing was to scare Europeans. Yesterday, Italy' Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said that Farook was planning to go to Syria to join IS.

Reports further said that he had lived at Vaprio d'Adda near Milan, with his family since he was 13 years old. And shockingly, photos published in 2009 by Sportweek show him as the captain of the under-19s national team, wearing the Italian colours in international competitions.

Sportweek is a weekly insert in Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport daily. The publication have re-issued the photo today.

"It hit us like lightning out of the blue, I still don't believe it," Fabio Marabini, president of the Kingsgrove Milano cricket club and a close paternal figure to Farook, told La Stampa daily.

"I spoke to him just before they put him on the flight for Islamabad. He thanked me for everything I've done for him over the years and he told me he was scared, because he no longer has any ties in Pakistan."