New umrah agency for Indonesia in wake of 848.7 bln rupiah Anniesa Hasibuan First Travel scam
JAKARTA - Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs will establish a new directorate to improve the monitoring system for umrah travel agencies, Nur Syam, the ministry’s secretary general told Salaam Gateway following news of a major 848.7 billion Indonesian rupiah ($63.6 million) umrah scam.
“Currently there are 500 umrah travel agencies. We want to improve the monitoring system with structural improvements at the ministry. It is currently managed by echelon III officials and starting next year, it will be managed by the directorate of umrah pilgrimage echelon II. This Directorate will study regulations related to umrah and supervise agencies,” he said.
The announcement comes in the wake of a recent case of a travel agency, First Anugerah Karya Wisata (First Travel) that is suspected to have defrauded 58,682 pilgrims. However, according to Syam, the ministry has been consistently monitoring umrah agencies even before news of the First Travel scam broke in early August.
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