Hajj pilgrims warned to be on lookout for unholy rip-offs
POLICE and trading standards officials are warning anyone planning to go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca to be on their guard against scams and rip-offs. Leaflets with advice in English and Bengali are being distributed in London’s East End, with its large Muslim population, for those planning the trip
POLICE and trading standards officials are warning anyone planning to go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca to be on their guard against scams and rip-offs.
Leaflets with advice in English and Bengali are being distributed in London’s East End, with its large Muslim population, for those planning the trip in December.
It is the latest campaign by Tower Hamlets trading standards office to make sure people are not getting ripped off by unscrupulous operators cashing in on religious devotion.
VISAS
“Some operators are out to make money and do not come up with what they have promised,” said council cabinet member Abdal Ullah.
“We hear stories of people paying for expensive accommodation, but getting a tiny room far from the centre of Mecca, and visas and flight tickets not arriving.
Most Read
- 1 Three stabbed in Chrisp Street chicken shop
- 2 8 charged after drugs raids in Hackney and Tower Hamlets
- 3 V&A launches festival to celebrate 150 years in Bethnal Green
- 4 Council rapped by ombudsman after not following safeguarding procedures
- 5 Series of failures sees Met Police placed under special measures
- 6 Firefighter retires after cancer diagnosis
- 7 Man accused of Yasmin Begum killing denies murder and burglary
- 8 Footballer convicted of hate crime after homophobic abuse of opponent
- 9 Old Bailey courts closed as barrister strike action gets under way
- 10 Bow Lock murder: Victim's two girlfriends give evidence at Old Bailey
“In extreme cases, agents disappearing with their money.”
FRAUDSTER
It follows a case at the Old Bailey earlier this month when 41-year-old fraudster Mohammed Ahmed was jailed after he skipped the country with �600,000, leaving hundreds of pilgrims stranded.
Trading Standards are advising would-be pilgrims to check that the travel company they book with is a member of a trade organisation such as ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents, and to keep all documents such as contracts and invoices in case of later problems.
The leaflets are being handed out over the next two weeks, at Al Huda Mosque in Mile End on Friday, at the Stepney Shahjalal Mosque next Friday (August 7) and at the Brick Lane Jamia Mosque the Friday after that(August 14).
