KUWAIT CITY: A large number of illegals from India and Sri Lanka may not be able to beat the June 30 amnesty deadline after they were duped by a phoney “travel agency”—thus leaving them high and dry. Many passengers who went to the airport with tickets issued by the “travel agency” were turned away after airline officials found that the tickets were bogus. On Wednesday evening a large number of people (victims) gathered at the company even as police were seen interrogating some of the employees of the “travel agency”. Police later shut down the office and asked some of the victims to accompany them to the Saliyah police station where complaints have been filed against the company. According to reliable sources, the company located opposite the Murqab post office is reportedly not licensed to be a travel agency and is a Logistics company dealing in door-to-door air and sea cargo business with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Most of the victims were reportedly charged between KD 60 and KD 79 for the tickets. The exact number of people swindled by the company could not be immediately ascertained but according to some of the victims it could run into hundreds. Almost all victims cheated by the agency are domestic workers. The victims noted that the travel agents told them that they were undertaking bookings for Kuwait Airways, Emirates, Indian Airlines, Air India, Qatar Airways, among others.  Sources said the owner of the company, a Sri Lankan, got the wind of the police raid and fled the office before the arrival of police. 

One of the victims speaking to the Arab Times — on condition of anonymity — said that the company reportedly charged him KD 75 for a one-way ticket to Bombay and issued him a print-out as a ticket. “When I asked the official as to why I was not provided with a proper airline ticket, he told me that it was an e-ticket and assured me that my seat was confirmed but when I checked in my luggage at the airport I was told by the concerned airline that I was holding a fake ticket.” He said he knows of at least two more people who were also duped by the company.
“I am completely ruined now as I have no money left with me and to add to my problems, the airlines are totally booked out.”
Another victim observed that most of the flight bookings made by office were to Colombo and Mumbai. He said he was running from pillar to post for the last four days to get his seat confirmed for Colombo. “I was turned away by the airline authorities at the airport after they found my ticket was bogus. This was about three weeks ago and since then the travel agency was assuring me that everything would be fine.”

By Francis A. Clifford Cardozo
Arab Times Staff