Haj tour operator jailed, fined for cheating pilgrims

PESHAWAR: An accountability court on Monday awarded five years sentence to a person and imposed Rs5 million fine for cheating pilgrims. Saidullah, owner of Faiz Umra Haj Service was charged with depriving pilgrims of their money in the name of Haj tour operation.  The accountability court judge, Muhammad Azhar Khan, announced the sentence after the NAB prosecutor proved charges against the accused person. The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had pursued the investigation against him. During hearing, the NAB prosecutor submitted that the bureau had first received several complaints against the accused person for cheating 106 pilgrims from various districts, including Peshawar, Mardan and Nowshera and depriving them of their hard earned money in the name of Hajj. He submitted that the accused through cheating collected over Rs7 million from  the pilgrims in the name of Haj.  The prosecutor said that the accused person had returned money only to few persons.