NTB Police Investigate Fraud Cases Of Umrah Travel Bureau In Mataram

Dirreskrimum Polda NTB Kombes Teddy Ristiawan. (ANTARA/Dhimas B.P.)

Director of the General Criminal Investigation of the West Nusa Tenggara Police, Kombes Teddy Ristiawan, stated that his party was still investigating the alleged fraud case committed by the Umrah travel agency company, PT Mahisa Tour & Travel, to a number of prospective pilgrims in Mataram City.

"We are still investigating the case," said Teddy in Mataram, as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 24.

Dalam penanganan yang masih berjalan di tingkat pengumpulan data dan bahan keterangan ini, dia mengatakan pihaknya telah menggendakan serangkaian permintaan klarifikasi, terutama kepada korban maupun pihak terlapor, yakni PT Mahisa Tour & Travel.

"So, the process (collection of data and information materials) is still ongoing," he said.

The NTB Regional Police are handling a case of alleged fraud, departing from a victim's report who is a professor in the field of legal science named Zainal Asikin.

The Professor of the Faculty of Law, Mataram University, previously confirmed that he through his attorney had made a complaint about the alleged fraud to the NTB Police in early March 2023.

He told that the intention to report this alleged fraud to the police began with no news from the company when he was about to pay off the Umrah fee deposit.

At that time, Asikin admitted that he immediately went to the PT Mahisa Tour & Travel office. However, arriving at the location, Asikin did not meet any officers from the company.

He has tried to contact the director of the company named Nanang Supriadi. As a result, there was no response.

"So it's made confused, what's going on. What about the fate of the money that has been deposited at the beginning," said Asikin.

He said the initial deposit of the agreement to depart for Umrah was handed over directly to the PT Mahisa Tour & Travel office which is located at Jalan Pejanggik, Mataram City.

Asikin later received a deposit receipt which was proof of the handover.

"That was in November 2022. The initial deposit was IDR 60 million. That was for 6 people. Promised to depart in February 2023. The employee said the deposit was immediately transferred to Nanang's account (Director of PT Mahisa Tour & Travel)," he said.

He admitted that he was tempted to go to Umrah using the services of PT Mahisa Tour & Travel after seeing a promotion from the company featuring the face of Dr. Tuan Guru Haji (TGH) Lalu Pattimura Parhan, a religious figure from Lombok Island who is quite famous.

"Because there is a photo of the teacher that makes us interested," he said.

Even with this problem, Zainal admitted that he was not the only victim. He suspects that there are more than one hundred victims of this Umrah travel agency company.

This was also corroborated by the statement of Zainal's legal adviser, Imam. He said there were also victims from the Umrah travel agency who reported it to the Mataram Police.

"The information is that there are many more victims in East Java who report to the police. Maybe there is an office there too," said Imam.

Imam also conveyed about the development of Prof. Zainal Asikin's complaint report in early March 2023 to the NTB Police.

He said that the complaint report had received a response from the Directorate of General Criminal Investigation (Ditreskrimum) of the NTB Police.

The response given in the form of a police summons Number: B/429/III/RES.1.11/2023/Ditreskrimum, dated March 16, 2023, asked Prof. Asikin to appear before the NTB Police Sub-Directorate (Sub-Directorate) I General Criminal Investigation (Reskrimum).

The letter asks Prof. Asikin to attend to fulfill the request for information on March 20, 2023,