RIYADH, 7 February 2003 — More than 500 prospective pilgrims set to leave for Haj were left in limbo yesterday when their Saudi sponsor ran away with their cash.
As of yesterday evening, the police were still searching for Sulaih Saleh Al-Ma’abadi and his employees.
Initial estimates said the amount of cash stolen was more than SR300,000.
When this Arab News correspondent arrived at the scene he was mobbed by the victims of the scam, most of whom were expatriates from the subcontinent and the Philippines.
A few Saudis were also in the group.
Phone calls to the agent’s office went unanswered. According to the pilgrims, the Saudi sponsor of Shamsul Huda Haj Group, Al-Ma’abadi, had collected the amount from the prospective pilgrims, some of whom had come from Al-Rumaih, 130 kilometers from Riyadh. He then promptly disappeared.
Unwilling to face the swelling crowd, the employees at the office also fled.
One of the victims of the scam said the agent’s office had been responding to phone calls until 1.30 pm, assuring the agitated pilgrims that arrangements were under way to transport them to Makkah and that they could come and receive the relevant papers from his office.
And then, all of a sudden, he stopped answering his phone.
A 10-member group working at Saudia Catering had paid SR5,000, while Mohammed Younus Khan, a Pakistani national, told Arab News that he had lost SR7,300 in his attempt to send five pilgrims for Haj.
Among the other major losers were: Mohammed Saleem (SR3,000/three people); Ghiasuddin (SR 5,000/ 10 people); Jaber Aidrous (SR3,000/ four people); Bachu Mia (SR3,700/3 people).
A group of women was also among those stranded at the Batha Commercial Center. Expatriates at the scene said the new regulations requiring them to go through Tawafa establishments had not only escalated Haj expenditure but also exposed people to these kind of scams.
