Hajj agency owner ‘pockets Tk 36 crore’

"Embezzlement by a travel agency owner" has made hajj uncertain for at least 538 people.

Mohammad Shah Alam, owner of SN Travels and Tours, has allegedly stolen over Tk 36 crore the pilgrims gave him and fled on Wednesday, alleged pilgrims.

Some of the victims demonstrated in front of the hajj agency office in the capital's Shyampur on Wednesday and Thursday and requested the religious affairs ministry to take action against the agency.

In another incident, 71 people alleged that an agency called Ababil Tours and Travels took their money but had not confirmed their plane tickets and visas.

A top official of the ministry, requesting anonymity, said, "Our first task is to make sure the people who paid the money get to travel to Saudi Arabia. This is embarrassing. Law enforcement agencies have been asked to arrest the swindlers. These agencies' licences will be cancelled."

Sources at the religious affairs ministry said after different inconsistencies in hajj management were detected, the secretary and two high officials of the ministry were transferred on June 5.

The ministry on Thursday held a hearing on various complaints against 11 hajj agencies that include SN Travels and Tours, Aviana Travels and Tours, Lima Travel Agency, Anas Travels and Tours, Al-Amin International Travel Agents, and Khidmah Overseas.

Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Shyampur Police Station, yesterday told reporters that police were looking for the swindlers.

M Shahadat Hossain Taslim, president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh, said people in rural areas often give money and passports to travel agents without asking for a receipt. This makes it easier for the agents to cheat people. 

People willing to perform hajj should always make payments at the agency office and ask for a receipt, he added.

"We are trying our best to send the people who got cheated to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj," he added.