Fourteen Sukabumi Residents' Umrah Tickets and Visas Found to Be Fake at the Airport

Fourteen pilgrims from Sukabumi regency failed to depart for Umrah because their documents had been manipulated by a travel company. Documents ranging from plane tickets to their visas turned out to be the result of digital manipulation.

This distressing incident came to light when the pilgrims, accompanied by the owners of the travel agency, Ucup Junansyah and Zulfat, were preparing to send the group of people to the Holy Land in November last year. However, upon arrival at the airport, the airline stated that their documents were not valid, and the pilgrims were eventually stranded at the airport for four days and four nights.

“When they arrived, it turned out that the visas and tickets were not valid, and there was no hotel there either. Basically, they couldn’t depart, even though all the money had already been paid to him,” said Ucup Junansyah at the Sukabumi Police headquarters, as reported by detikJabar on Thursday (26/2/2026).

Ucup revealed that the pilgrims, most of whom were villagers and farmers, continued to cry after realising they had been scammed. They had also held a large celebration in their hometown.

“The pilgrims had prepared everything. Those who owned ducks had even slaughtered them one by one for the celebration. Before departing, we were all crying at the airport. We stayed at the airport for four nights; it was a very upsetting experience,” he recalled.

Ucup and his son-in-law, Zulfat, decided to use their personal funds, amounting to hundreds of millions of rupiah, as a loan to ensure that the pilgrims could still perform their pilgrimage. This was done to maintain the pilgrims’ dignity and trust.

“The initial total loss we covered was Rp 300 million. But because we were responsible for sending the pilgrims, we had to provide additional funds, bringing the total to approximately Rp 500 million,” said Zulfat.

Meanwhile, the victims’ lawyer, Afrianto, stated that his clients had been scammed by the head of the travel agency, whose initials are AH, and who has an office in the Bojonggenteng sub-district.