Translated with AI
Fraudsters who collected money from citizens for organizing trips to the Hajj (pilgrimage) have been detained in four cities of Uzbekistan, Fergana.ru reports, citing the Telegram channel Xavfsizlik.
Thus, in Andijan, employees of the State Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained a previously convicted local resident born in 1966, who deceived 10 people by promising to send them on a pilgrimage to Muslim shrines located in Saudi Arabia. The man acted on behalf of a non-existent travel company and collected $5,000 from the victims. In total, the damage amounted to $50,000.
In the Kashkadarya region, an entrepreneur was brought to justice who gained the trust of a citizen and, through his acquaintances in Tashkent, extorted $14 thousand for sending him and his relatives on the Hajj.
In Namangan, a manager of a local tour operator asked two people for $20,000 to organize a trip to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj ritual. The attacker managed to receive half the amount in advance, after which he was detained.
Another incident occurred in Tashkent, where an employee of one of the travel agencies received $9 thousand from a resident of the Tashlak district of the Fergana region for sending him on a pilgrimage.
Criminal cases have been opened against the fraudsters and investigative actions are being carried out.
According to Uzbek authorities, 34 criminal cases were opened in the first three months of this year alone for illegally organizing pilgrimage tours. The activities of 53 companies were suspended, and 46 people were held accountable.
In November last year, the Committee for Religious Affairs of Uzbekistan published a list of tour operators that had received a license to organize pilgrimage trips for believers. At that time, the list included 12 companies. Half of them are based in Tashkent, three in Namangan, one each in Urgench, Andijan and Margilan.
At the same time, the department recalled that for the illegal provision of services to citizens for organizing tours to Muslim shrines, a fine of 200 basic calculation units is provided – 75 million soums (about $6 thousand).
The 2025 Hajj season began in mid-May and will last until June 9. Saudi Arabia has allocated a quota for 15,000 pilgrims to Uzbekistan. Moreover, only tour operators licensed to carry out such activities can send believers to Mecca.
