An athlete from India who had come to Canada to play kabaddi has not been seen or heard from since being dropped off in Abbotsford.
Police are now asking for the public's assistance in trying to track him down.
Const. Ian MacDonald said Liakat Ali was being paid to participate in a number of kabaddi tournaments across Canada until his anticipated return to India in late September.
Kabaddi is a South Asian team sport, played in bare feet and without protective padding, where points are scored by tackling members of the opposing squad.
MacDonald said Ali had already played in five of the 10 tournaments in which he had been scheduled, and he had different people handling his travel arrangements in each city.
Ali was staying in Edmonton until Aug. 9, when arrangements were made for him to travel to Abbotsford for a tournament, his first in B.C.
On the way there, however, the driver's vehicle broke down near Kamloops , and a commercial transport driver who had no connections to Ali was asked if he could take him to Abbotsford.
MacDonald said Ali, who does not speak English, did not have a cellphone of his own, but he borrowed the truck driver's along the way. It is believed he was making arrangements to be picked up.
Ali was dropped off at Mt. Lehman Road and Fraser Highway sometime after 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 10, MacDonald said.
He said the truck driver saw Ali get into a pickup truck driven by a South Asian man with a turban.
Ali did not show up for the kabbadi tournament and has not been seen or heard from by his contacts in Canada.
Police have not been able to determine who the pickup driver was, and the commercial transport driver did not write down the licence plate.
"He definitely has gone off the grid," MacDonald said of Ali.
Ali is 5' 1" and weighs 160 pounds. He is clean-shaven with short black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt and flip-flop sandals, and was carrying some of his possessions in a blue Sears bag.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225.