Messi boy forced to flee Afghanistan
Nasim || risingbd.com
International Desk: A five-year-old Afghan boy whose image went viral after he was photographed wearing a homemade Lionel Messi shirt has fled with his family to Pakistan.
Murtaza Ahmadi`s father said they had received threats of kidnap, including from a gangster demanding money.
After the boy shot to fame in his shirt fashioned from a stripy blue plastic bag, the Argentine star gave him two signed jerseys and a football.
"I love Messi. He`s the king," Murtaza, who hopes to meet him, told the BBC.
Murtaza`s father says they left their home province of Ghazni because the situation was "very risky" for him.
"A few days ago I got a call from a local gangster. He thought that since my son had received these T-shirts from Messi that maybe he also got money and asked for his share," Arif Ahmadi told media.
Now the family hope Quetta will provide a chance of a better life, even though Murtaza and seven of his family members are all crammed into one room.
They briefly stayed in the capital Islamabad but found it too expensive.
Source: agencies.
risingbd/Dhaka/May 3, 2016/Nasim
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