Jakarta –
The police arrest the owner of the agency travel umrah with the initials PT NSWM named Mahfudz Abdulah alias Abi (52) and his wife, Halijah Amin alias Bunda (48), in connection with a case of alleged fraud against Umrah pilgrims. The two were arrested in a hotel unit room in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY).
In the video received detikcom, Tuesday (28/3/2023), it was seen that both of them were arrested by investigators. At that time Mahfudz was wearing a gray and white striped sweater with his hands tied cable ties.
Meanwhile, his wife, Halijah, wore a pink dress and headscarf. In contrast to Mahfudz, Halijah’s hands did not look tied cable ties. The investigators escorted the two of them out of the hotel for further custody.
“The perpetrator was arrested on February 27, 2023. The two are husband and wife,” said Polda Metro Jaya Dirkrimum Kombes Hengki Haryadi to reporters, Tuesday (28/3).
Apart from the two of them, continued Hengki, one other person named Hermansyah (59) has also been arrested. It is known that Hermansyah is the Main Director of PT NSWM, the Umrah travel agent.
Currently, the three have become suspects and are being held at the Polda Metro Jaya Detention Center. In this case, the three were charged with Article 126 in conjunction with Article 119 A of Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of the Hajj and Umrah Pilgrimage as amended in Article 126 of Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation.
“The maximum sentence is 10 years,” he added.
Case Disclosure
This case was revealed after the anti-umrah mafia task force (Satgas) for the Umrah Regional Police received a report from the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).
“So the victims reported to the Consulate General in Saudi Arabia, they were stranded and unable to return to their homeland after performing the Umrah pilgrimage,” Kombes Hengki told reporters, Monday (27/3).
The congregation is on average stranded in Saudi Arabia for nine days. Some of the congregation even slept on the streets. In addition, there were victims who were unable to leave for the Holy Land at all.
The victim’s report to the consulate general was then forwarded to the Ministry of Religion. The Ministry of Religion then reported this to Polda Metro Jaya.
From the search results, the pilgrims were departed by the umrah travel agent PT NSWM. The results of the police investigation revealed that hundreds of victims of fraud by the Umrah travel agent.
“We are still data on the total victims, while there are hundreds of people with losses reaching around Rp. 100 billion,” he said.
(wnv/isa)
