Travel agency accused of fraud

PESHAWAR: Accusing a private travel agency of looting millions of rupees from intending pilgrims, several affectees Saturday asked the government to probe into the incident.

“We had applied for Haj through a private travel agency but the owners of the agency cheated us, depriving us of millions of rupees. We will stage a protest sit-in outside KP Assembly if the government failed to arrest the accused,” Javed Khan, a resident of Nasirabad, told reporters here.

A number of other affectees were also present on the occasion.

He said that he along with 20 other persons had paid Rs350,00 per head and handed over their passports to the employees of the travel agency.

The owners of the travel agency, he said, had collected Rs6.4 million from the Haj applicants and told them that their Haj applications had been accepted.

“The agency owners had assured us that they will give visas to us and we will leave for Saudi Arabia on August 20,” he added.

However, they found the office of the travel agency closed on August 16 and the employees and owners also disappeared.

After their press conference, the affectees also staged demonstration against the travel owners at Sher Shah Suri Road opposite Cantonment Railway Station.