Lagos — A self-styled travel agent, F. O. Kazeem, has been arrested by the police and State Security Service (SSS) at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, for allegedly duping Oyo State Pilgrims Board and some pilgrims about N22million. The victims had intended to travel for the 2009 Hajj in Mecca.

Investigations by Daily Independent showed that no fewer than 45 pilgrims, mostly from Saki, Oyo State, were allegedly denied visit to Saudi Arabia due to discrepancies in their travelling documents resulting from the alleged fraudulent activity of the travel agent.

The travel agent, who interestingly is from Saki, Oyo State, is said to be a son of an Imam in the community. He was alleged to have been engaged in the fraudulent act for many years unnoticed.

Daily Independent also learnt that the Oyo State Board initially believed that Kazeem, who has been operating in the name of F.O. Kazeem Travelling Agency, was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Abuja. But the bubble burst recently, when the Board discovered that he was not registered with CAC.

Confirming the arrest, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Airports Command, Danazuma Duma, said the culprit was arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) attached to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, upon his return from Mecca and subsequently handed over to the police.

Duma, however, said that the suspect had been handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for further investigation.

He added, "we only assisted the SSS until we handed him over to the EFCC. He is now in EFCC custody. Apparently, there are other cases against him apart from that of the pilgrims."

Further investigations by Daily Independent however revealed that the suspect, said to be in the custody of the EFCC, is walking the streets a freeman.

In fact, in a telephone conversation with Daily Independent, Kazeem confirmed that he had been interrogated by the Nigeria Police over the issue and admitted collecting money from the intended pilgrims, but assured on refunding the money to the disappointed pilgrims.

Daily Independent learnt that the "fake" travel agent collected between N434, 000 and N656, 000 cash from his victims. His arrest was said to have been as a result of a complaint from one of the victims, Kudiratu Abeje Agboola-Ariyibi, from Lagos, whom he allegedly duped N503, 000. The victim reported the case to the Hajj Camp Police Station, Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The complaint of Agboola-Aribiyi was said to have prompted the police to alert other security operatives at the airport. He was subsequently arrested by the SSS attached to the international wing of the airport on his arrival from Saudi Arabia where he had gone to observe the 2009 Hajj.

Upon his arrest, he was later handed over to the airport police where he was detained, but was granted bail after three sureties stood in for him.

A police source at the station, who does not want his name in print, however, confirmed the arrest, but said F.O. Kazeem was only arrested by the police because of the report of one of the victims, and said that the police could not do anything on the case of other victims as they had not made any attempt to report the case to the station or any other police stations in the country.

The police source further stated that Kazeem had promised to refund the N535, 000 collected from Agboola-Aribiyi, but further investigations showed that since his release from detention about two weeks ago, he had redeemed only N50, 000, which was acknowledged by the police, while he had reneged on earlier promise.

On the 40 intended pilgrims that were unable to attend the Hajj due to the agent's fraudulent act in Saki, it was learnt that because he is said to be the son of a prominent Imam in the community, the elders in the area have intervened and had resolved to refund the disappointed pilgrims their money.

Kazeem is said to have, however, denied collecting N22million from the intended pilgrims, claiming that the total amount he owed the pilgrims is N7 million.

Daily Independent, however, conducted a discrete investigation into the amount allegedly collected from the victims. Our investigations show that one Nasimot Abeke Iwalesin gave him the sum of N575, 000, Ayegbajeje Suliatu also gave him N530, 000, one Abdl-Wahab Rasheed Ayegbajeje gave N505, 000, while Aremu Alirat Adefunke was swindled N656, 000. Others are Kudirat Abdl-Lateef Anike, N463, 000, Lawal Gasali Akanni, N560, 000; Osenatu Jibril A, N434, 000; Alhaja Kudiratu Abeje Agboola Ariyibi, N503, 000 and Moriamo Shittu, N600, 000. In addition, Fatimo Raheem Abeje, allegedly released N575, 000 to him, Moshood Kosenat, N500, 000; Alliu Mohammed Bello, N450, 000, while Salaudeen Wahab gave N575, 000 among others.

On enquiry at the Hajj Camp Police Station, it was gathered that F.O. Kazeem had not reported to the station since his release from police detention. He, however, declined to comment on other pilgrims both at Lagos and Saki.

Agboola-Aribiyi, in an interview with this newspaper, stated that Alhaji F.O. Kazeem called her on January 10, 2010, asking her to forward her account number to him, which she declined.

According to her, the travel agent told her that he would send the sum of N40, 000 to her account, but described the inability of F.O. Kazeem to pay as agreed as a breach of agreement between him and the police authority.

She said, "Alhaji F.O. Kazeem actually called me on Sunday night to text my account number to him. I was actually surprised to have received his call because I was expecting him to send whatever he wanted to send to me to the police station. I immediately told him to send it to the police station, which had intervened in the issue before now.

"Personally, I think what he had done was a breach of agreement between him and the police because when he was detained, he promised to refund the whole money within a week and three sureties stood in for him. But as at now, nothing fruitful is coming from him," she concluded.