All victims of pilgrimage scam urged to sue illegal travel firm

NARATHIWAT  - All travellers ripped off by an illegal travel agent who offered cheap, pilgrimmage packages to Mecca are being advised to come forward and register their complaints with police, to help stamp out the scam.

Narathiwat governor Boonchuay Homyamyen said on Sunday that all victims who paid Dee Al Armin or Dee Armin for Umrah trips should contact police, asking they take action against the company.

He was speaking after 71 disappointed pilgrims returned to Narathiwat from Bangkok on Sunday morning by bus. They were among 148 travellers who were left stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport on Friday after learning the trip they paid for to Mecca was fraudulent. The travel arrangements had not been arranged, as promised, by the company.

Other victims of the scam also arrived at the airport from Pattani and Yala.

Investigators suspect they were not the only victims of the company.

All paid 25,000 baht to Dee Al Armin or Dee Armin last year for an Umrah trip to Saudi Arabia,  although the actual price tag of the tour was about 45,000 baht. The organiser claimed the cheap travel price was possible because the trip was being subsidised by donors.

The company was supposed to hire D Salaam Travel & Tours, based in Pattani, to arrange the trip for the group. They should have left for Mecca from Bangkok on last Monday but the journey was postponed twice by the organiser, citing a visa problem for some of the group members.

D Salaam Travel & Tours said on Friday the company had been contacted by Dee Al Armin or Dee Armin to arrange the group's pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia at about 40,000 per head, but it had not received payment for the trip.

D Salaam Travel & Tours also threatened legal action against Dee Al Armin or Dee Armin.

Deputy Interior Minister Jeseth Thaiseth said checks found that Dee Al Armin or Dee Armin was an illegal travel agent, not registered with the Tourism Department.

Umrah is a non-compulsory pilgrimage in Islam and can be undertaken at anytime of the year.