PUTRAJAYA, July 8 — Police have received at least 22 reports on the issue of prospective haj pilgrims being stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang yesterday, believed to have been cheated by a travel agency.
KLIA district police chief ACP Imran Abd Rahman said as of 3 pm today, police reports had been lodged by the victims or the victim’s family members, among others in Dungun, Terengganu; Setapak, Kuala Lumpur; Temerloh, Pahang; Rawang, Selangor.
“We expect there will be more reports to be lodged because there are many victims involved,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.
Imran said the case was being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating.
“Investigations can only be made after a report is made. Hence, after this, police will call several witnesses, including representatives of the company (travel agency) involved, to get the real picture.
“Now we are just about to investigate, we didn’t say it is confirmed that they were deceived. We don’t know the (true) position yet; let us investigate first,” he said.
About 380 prospective haj pilgrims were reported to be stranded at KLIA yesterday, believed to be victims of a scam by a travel agency.
They are believed to have used furada visas to perform haj pilgrimage and not through the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH).
Furada visa is a haj visa obtained directly from the Saudi Arabian Embassy and not issued by TH. It is also not included in the haj quota of a country.
— Bernama
