Lucknow, Dec. 21: A Japanese tourist has gone missing in Agra amid suspicion that he might have fallen into the trap of illegal guides who throng the city of Taj Mahal.

Ogawa, the 32-year-old tourist, apparently checked out of his hotel on December 19 and has been untraced since, Agra police said.

The police believe he could have been lured by the “lapkas”, the colloquial term for the guides who operate without official sanction or papers.

The hunt for Ogawa was intensified after Rajeev Singh, the driver of the taxi that was supposed to take him to the station, told the police he had not come out of the hotel. “He was to have taken my taxi but he didn’t come.”

According to Santosh Kumar, the officer in charge of the police station, Ogawa had a one-month visa and planned to travel to Varanasi and Gaya before going to Delhi. “The search is on,” he said.

The suspicion that lapkas could be involved has grown because they are known to befriend tourists easily. Some have even charmed visitors into marrying them.

“Some lapkas have married Japanese tourists. Many women have said they have fallen in love with their guides,” another official said.

Ogawa is not the first Japanese tourist to have gone missing. Last January, Kota Shinozakhi, a 21-year-old student, disappeared and has not been found yet.

Eiko, his 55-year-old mother, came to Agra in September to hunt for him. She has been in touch with the police through the Japanese embassy in Delhi but nothing has come of her efforts yet.