On a raid with police tackling haj travel fraud

Travellers have often saved up for many years in order to make the pilgrimage, and pay thousands of pounds in travel costs. However, some pilgrims find they arrive in Saudi Arabia to discover the accomodation they booked doesn’t exist or is in terrible condition.

In some of the worst cases, would-be pilgrims find themselves left entirely without visas and tickets and unable to make the trip.

The City of London police are leading a national campaign to try and tackle this fraud. This morning we joined them on a raid against a company in east London. They made an arrest after receiving five separate allegations of fraud against the company for not providing tickets and visas.

Outside the company’s office, we met two angry and upset men, who claim they paid £43,000 to the company to try and get visas for their group of 61 pilgrims.

Visas are issued by the Saudi embassy to a few agents who then sell them on to other travel agencies. The two gentlemen we met say they didn’t recieve their visas and some of the passports were returned with ripped pages.

One of them tearfully explained his group has been left unable to travel for haj.

Police believe haj fraud is undereported because some victims may be too embarrassed or confused about their situation to come forward. They’re hoping the launch of this high-profile campaign will give people the confidence to report such crimes.

Police urge anyone who thinks they may be a victim to watch their video and contact Action Fraud.

The Koran states that all Muslims who are physically and financially able should make the haj pilgrimage once in their lifetime.

The financial loss for victims averages around £3,000 to £3,500 per person. Only 44 haj-related fraud reports have been filed this year, but police think the actual figure could be much higher.

Around two million people are believed to have made the pilgrimage to Mecca for haj, down on more than three million in 2012.

One reason for the fall in number could be concerns over the MERS coronavirus, which has killed 51 people in Saudi Arabia, out of a total 58 worldwide killed by the disease since it appeared in its current form a year ago.

Saudi Arabia’s health ministry said at the weekend that there had been no reported cases of the deadly virus among pilgrims in the holy city of Mecca.

However, health officials have expressed concerns that a huge congregation of pilgrims could fuel a large outbreak of the disease.