RIYADH, 18 January 2006 — The story on the Haj scam reported in Monday’s edition of Arab News took a new turn yesterday when the representatives of the Haj tour operator blamed a Saudi business associate for the hardships caused to the intending pilgrims.
Hundreds of expat pilgrims living in Riyadh were scammed out of SR1,850 apiece after being issued fake paperwork and put on a bus. The bus was nearly turned away at a checkpoint as authorities there deemed the Haj permits to be fake. Passengers allegedly chipped in to pay authorities to continue to Makkah where pilgrims, who could afford to pay extra to continue on, did so while others were forced to return to Riyadh with their Haj unfulfilled.
“We, the representatives of Ansarlil Hujjaj, are in deep shock with the terrible and unimaginable incident that occurred and wish to assure you all that we are completely innocent,” said an e-mail allegedly sent by company representatives.
Arab News tried to contact the associate named by Ansarlil Hujjaj, who allegedly runs four Haj tour offices under the name of Sabeel Al-Murqarrabeen, at the two cell phone numbers provided, but neither number worked. The Ansarlil Hujjaj representatives said that the associate’s business was a “sister concern” of the tour operator.
Ansarlil Hujjaj’s representatives — Abu Obaidullah, Syed Mukarram and Nasser Yousuf — who were contacted through the phone numbers listed on the Haj pamphlets provided by the jilted Hajis, say they disappeared after the ruse came to light and they were manhandled by angry pilgrims. They said in the e-mail that they feared further violence.
However, the authenticity of the source could not be verified since there was no response from the cell phone numbers provided in the e-mail. “We were with them struggling for better arrangements and making all the possible efforts till the last day of Haj,” the e-mail claims.
However, two Indian pilgrims disagreed with this statement. Muhammad Mustafa and Samad Khan said that instead of the reps struggling for better arrangements, the pilgrims struggled to push the bus out of the sand after it took a detour with headlights off, ostensibly to avoid further checkpoints on the way to Makkah.
