Abu Dhabi: A group of workers living in Abu Dhabi’s Musaffah industrial area have alleged that a travel agency closed down its office after issuing “fake flight tickets” to them, according to Gulf News.
The Bangladeshi workers had planned to celebrate Eid Al Adha with their families back home.
Eskandoor Hussain Ali, 28, an aluminium fabricator from Chittagong, was counting the hours to meet his 10-month-old daughter for the first time. However, when he reached Abu Dhabi airport to board a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at 11.30pm on August 25, he was shocked to hear from airline officials that his ticket was invalid.
“I was in tears while explaining my unexpected ordeal to my wife and returning to my accommodation,” said Ali, an Abu Dhabi resident for nine years.
His friend Mohammad Najimuddin, 25, also an aluminium fabricator, added: “The next day, when we went to confront the travel agency in sector 24 of Musaffah industrial area, we found the office closed. Someone said it was open for a few hours on August 25, but the next day all we found were many victims like us in front of the closed office.
Najimuddin has been living in Abu Dhabi for seven years.
According to receipts issued by the travel agency, Ali paid Dh2,000 on July 29 and Najimuddin paid Dh1,650 on June 20 for their return tickets.
When Ali and Najimuddin shared their bitter experience with relatives and friends, it turned out that many who had brought return tickets from the same agency for travel on a later date had also been duped.
Mohammad Alamgir, 32, a storekeeper, paid Dh1,650 for his return ticket to Bangladesh; Mohammad Salim, 29, a printing press operator, paid Dh1,690, and Tanjimuddin, 29, a quality controller, paid Dh1,580.
All of them contacted Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ Abu Dhabi office and were informed that their tickets were invalid.
All these workers planned to travel at the start of their annual leave, but they are now sitting helpless at their accommodation.
