Haj scam: Police detain five individuals

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have detained five locals, including two women to assist in the investigation into an alleged haj package and visa scam.

Wangsa Maju district police chief Supt Ashari Abu Samah in a statement tonight said the suspects, aged between 28 and 50, were arrested after 18 reports have been lodged in connection with the case involving a loss of RM683,500.

According to him, the latest report on the alleged scam was received by the Commercial Crime Investigation Division of the Wangsa Maju Police Headquarters on July 7 and the case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code.

Ashari Abu said initial investigations revealed that the complainant claimed to have dealt with an individual from a travel agency in Taman Danau Kota, Setapak and had paid RM35,000 into the bank account belonging to the travel agency, however, the agency kept postponing the flight date to Makkah from the original date set.

"On July 7, the victims went to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and found that no flight ticket bookings to Makkah had been made in their names," he said, adding that the agency also did not inform them about their flight.

"No representative came forward to give an explanation regarding the problem faced by the victims," he said.

On Thursday, about 380 prospective pilgrims were reported to have been stranded at KLIA believed to be victims of a scam by a travel agency.

They were believed to have used the Furada visas which are private haj visas without involving the Lembaga Tabung Haji quota.

-- BERNAMA