70 hajj aspirants conned by agency
Seventy aspirant hajis from Mymensingh and Jamalpur districts have become victims of fraudulence by a hajj operator who has gone into hiding with their passports and money.
“Mawna Travels and Tours” at Mawna Chourasta in Sreepur upazila, Gazipur, which received more than Tk 1.79 crore to make all arrangements for them to perform hajj -- from visa, flight tickets to food -- in Saudi Arabia, has remained closed for at least a week.
Its proprietor Ali Ashraf could not be contacted for around the same time, said Momtaz Uddin, a muallim who communicated with the hajj agency on behalf of 27 would-be hajis from Trisal upazila, Mymensingh.
Ruhul Amin, a friend of Momtaz, took the charge as hajj guide of the other 43 people from Sarishabari, Tangail, Modhupur and Jamalpur areas.
Many of the aspiring pilgrims, while talking to The Daily Star, accused the muallims of tricking them in league with the hajj operator.
Momtaz said he and Ruhul had collected the money and handed it to the agency for pre-registration with the government of hajis, tickets, accommodation and food at Mekkah and Madina and other necessary arrangements.
Maulana Ruhul Amin, director, finance of Mawna Travels, gave them a money receipt in return, he added.
According to the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh, the licence number of Mawna Travels owned by Ali Ashraf is 1373.
Both the cell phone numbers of Ashraf were found switched off.
Momtaz said that with bitter experience of cheating by hajj agencies, “I at first didn't have faith in Mawna Travels. But when police went to hajis' houses to do their background checks after pre-registration, my confusion was gone.”
As the police verification was done, Ruhul said, the travel agent pressed them to pay whatever was left of the money charged to make the necessary arrangements for the annual pilgrimage.
The two muallims then paid off the money along with the hajis' passports. The travel agent forwarded papers to Mymensingh and Jamalpur civil surgeon offices for carrying out medical check-ups and vaccination of the hajis.
“After that they didn't have any distrust left of the travel agency,” Momtaz said.
But soon after when the muallims started asking about plane tickets and flight schedules, the agency began dillydallying and gave several fight schedules, he added.
Tomiz Uddin, a retired police officer of Trishal, among the 70 aspirant hajis, accused Momtaz of deceiving them.
“From the beginning, we didn't find similarities between his [Momtaz] activities and words.
“Yesterday [Saturday] he told me that he was going to Dhaka to the minister's [religious affairs minister Motiur Rahman elected from Mymensingh] house along with the hajj agency's official to resolve the matter,” Tomiz said.
To verify this information, the correspondent tried to contact Momtaz yesterday evening but his phone was switched off.
“We don't know anything about the travel agent. We know only Momtaz,” Tomiz said.
The hajis gave Momtaz Tk 30,000 each for pre-registration and later Tk 2.70 lakh each, said Zahirul, another resident of Trishal, who paid the money.
“Momtaz today [yesterday] told me that we will not be able to perform hajj this year and that he was trying to get back our passports and money from the travel agent,” he said.
Ibrahim Bahar, president of the Hajj Agencies Association, said it would take punitive action if the allegation of fraudulence against Mawna Travels was proved to be true.
He also advised the aspirant hajjis to communicate the matter to the hajj camp at Ashkona.
The holy hajj is likely to be performed on September 12, subject to the sighting of the moon. A total of 101,758 Bangladeshis are expected to perform hajj this year under the government and private arrangements.
The deadline for submitting pilgrims' passports to the Saudi Arabian Embassy for hajj visas ended yesterday, the embassy in Dhaka informed the religious affairs ministry.
The last date of the outgoing hajj flights from Dhaka is September 5 and the return flights will begin on September 17, sources said.
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