DAMMAM, 13 February 2004 — A Haj and Umrah operator in the Eastern Province has been accused of duping “several hundred” expatriates and Saudis of their hard earned money and preventing them from performing Haj this year. Some 600 would-be Hajis are said to have defrauded.

Irate customers complained to Arab News that the operator in Alkhobar, which had advertised several packages for Haj, had cheated them. A number of expatriates — mainly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Palestinians and Egyptians, but Saudis as well — responded. The packages varied from SR1,100 to SR2,500 depending upon facilities and duration of stay at the holy sites. Most of the respondents had opted for the SR2,500 package.

Alkhobar police confirmed that they have received complaints about the fraud but would not divulge any further details.

According to Farooq Sultan, an Indian who paid SR2,500, the group was supposed to start its journey on Jan. 27 from Alkhobar Municipality.

“But on Jan. 26 we were informed that we would not be traveling for the pilgrimage because the manager of the company had disappeared with the money.”

Muhammad Ishaq of Pakistan who had paid a deposit of SR4,500 was all excited to perform his first Haj with his wife and three children. “The news shattered us, we lost our hard earned money and failed to perform Haj.”

Indian expat Abdul Qadir from Hyderabad, who works in an office equipment company in Alkhobar and was also set to perform his first Haj, also says that he was a victim of the fraud.

Sultan said that he approached the company the next day for a refund, “but one of the employees told me to forget about my money.”

The police, he said, had not been very helpful. “They have been sending us from one police station to another. But in the process I learned that more than 600 people from Alkhobar, Dammam, Qatif and Jubail have been duped of their hard-earned money,” he said.

Another complainant, Muhammad Ishaq, said that he managed to get hold of the owner of the company. “He called me into his office and noted down all my details and promised that he would contact me soon. But since then I have not heard a word from him and when I call him on his phone, it is never picked up.”

Arab News tried to contact the owner on his mobile, but the phone was switched off. The firm’s Alkhobar office was also locked. The manager of the company who allegedly ran off with the money was also unavailable on his mobile number.

Those who have lost their money say that they paid it to the company and not to an individual and they possess authorized receipts from the tour operator’s office. On the basis of this they say that the owner of the company should be held responsible for the missing money.

“It is our hard-earned money and authorities should recover it. We have full faith in Saudi justice,” Sultan and Ishaq said.