A retired Chief of Police, Alhaji Muhammed Alidu, has cautioned the chairman of the Hajj Board to be wary about what he describes as the underhand dealings of pilgrims agents.
He said the activities of these agents, who process prospective pilgrims for the Hajj for prescribed commissions, had a negative impact on the smooth operations of the annual pilgrimage over the years.
In a letter copied the president, vice president and the national chief imam and the media, he pointed out that the agents went beyond the quotas assigned them by collecting fares from others including foreigners from neighbouring countries.
The unsuspecting persons were told that the Vice President, should there be challenges, would use his office to arrange visas for them at the Saudi embassy.
�At the end of the Hajj, when these persons do not get visas to travel they put the blame on the government. The agents refuse to refund the fares paid to them,� he stated.
The agents, he stated, lied to the distressed victims that they would keep the monies in trust so that next year they would be accorded priority, asking, �What if the person dies before then?�
Agents, he stressed, sold the tickets assigned them to foreigners at exorbitant fares as they collected such fares in CFA which they exchanged at the black market.
He stated that unscrupulous agents acquired Ghanaian passports for foreigners through the completion of passport applications forms with false details.
Alhaji Alidu called on the authorities to monitor the operations of agents with a view to stopping the obnoxious practices, adding that those caught should be punished to serve as a deterrent to others.
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