Man held for duping foreign tourists by posing as govt approved travel agent

A 33-year-old man was arrested here for allegedly cheating foreign tourists after posing as a government approved travel agent and by offering attractive packages, police said Wednesday.

The accused was identified as Idrees Shamshad Bhat, a resident of Jangpura Extension and native of Jammu and Kashmir, they said.

On March 20, a Canadian national, Jonrong Wang, had filed a complaint in which she alleged that she was cheated by a "gang of touts" who offered her customised tour packages, according to Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi).

Wong had booked a trip to Rajasthan for which she was asked to pay Rs 33,000 in advance, the DCP said.

However, the accused took the money and did not give her the tour package, he said.

During investigation, raids were conducted at several places after which Bhat was arrested, police said.

During interrogation, Bhat revealed that since 2001, he, along with his associates, was cheating foreign tourists, the DCP said.

They would trap foreign tourists by offering them attractive and customised tour packages and collect all the money in advance, he said.

Thereafter, they would either not deliver the tour package at all or they would just provide them some "low-grade" tour, thus cheating the foreigners, the DCP added.

To evade arrest, the gang members remained in Delhi in winter and would take shelter in Jammu and Kashmir in summer, police said.

A senior police officer said the police have received only one complaint but as they were active since 2007, efforts are on to find out the number of foreign nationals duped by them.

Several documents, recovered from their alleged office, showed that they were targeting foreigners visiting Connaught Place and New Delhi area, police said, adding that two more accused have been identified and efforts are on to nab them.