Seven Dubai-based tour operators could be facing crippling fines for their role in what is thought to be a human trafficking con.
The scam, which was uncovered by Dubai-daily 7DAYS, involved hundreds of Chinese tourists who entered Dubai on visit visas issued by the tour operators. The visas were issued to two bogus agents posing as representatives of an electrical company.
But at least 200 of the 500 Chinese visitors have now absconded, and the firm they were supposed to be representing does not exist.
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Javed Khan, manager of Smart Tourism in Bur Dubai said his company issued 56 visas to the agents, and that many of the Chinese visitors have since absconded.
He will be fined AED 9,000 per person if they do not leave the UAE.
Khan told 7DAYS: “This is a big, big problem for our company and for others in Dubai.”
“This woman came to me and had what I thought were all the proper documents - passport copy, residency visa, company information.
She said she was organising for traders to come over for 15-20 days from China.
“They gave me a guarantee cheque for AED 50,000 which is standard for issuing visit visas. But then it started to happen that these people did not leave.”
The cheque bounced and the documents were found to be fake. Khan suspects that as the majority of visas were issued to young women, they may have ended up in the sex trade.
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Jul 29, 2011 , USA
The US of America has the same agenda!