Agent sends Pakistani Hajis on visit visas

Nine Pakistani businesspeople, including four women, were allegedly cheated by an agent into believing that they could visit the Kingdom on Haj visas. They were arrested on arrival, released and sent back to Karachi on Friday.
Hailing from Karachi, the alleged victims were issued visit visas by the agent instead of Haj visas.
“The victims were cheated by the agent in Pakistan, and they were unaware that they were supposed to travel on Haj visas and not visit visas,” said Suhail Ali Khan, press consular at the Pakistan Consulate in Jeddah. “They were arrested and put in jail for five days for traveling from Madinah to Makkah without Haj permits,” said Khan.
He said the travelers were not given enough time to check their visas and documents before departure.
“These Pakistanis had each paid 550,000 Pakistani rupees for Haj visa. They are victims of a scam. The agent gave them their passports at Isha prayer and asked them to be at the airport at Fajr the same day, They hardly had any time to check their visas. Pakistan Consul General Aftab Khokhar met them and with the intervention of the consulate, they were released from Madinah Tarheel and sent back to Karachi.”
Khan had an advice for pilgrims: “Don’t come for Haj on visit or other visas.” Thursday was the last date for pilgrims to travel from Madinah to Makkah. The news was first broken by Saudi media group-chat and later confirmed by the Pakistan Consulate in Jeddah.
According to sources, the report of the incident was sent by the embassy to Islamabad which is expected to release a formal statement on this later.
The Saudi authorities had announced that those caught performing Haj without a permit would be deported immediately and banned from entering the Kingdom for 10 years. Also, owners of vehicles smuggling unauthorized pilgrims to the holy sites would be detained and fined, and their vehicles impounded.