Ticket scandal: Over 500 students duped in China
The air ticket scandal in China appeared to have left a lot more Indian students high and dry than what was originally estimated.
By Saibal Dasgupta, TNN |
BEIJING: The air ticket scandal in China appeared to have left a lot more Indian students high and dry than what was originally estimated. Reports emanating from different universities in China suggest that over 300 Indian students and another 200 from Pakistan and Sri Lanka may have been duped.
One of the institutions, Soochow University has begun offering loans to its students who have been cheated and do not have the means to return home. But students in four other universities in Nanjing, Chongqing, Dalian and the Zhenshou university in Henan province remained confined to their hostels unable to go home during the five-week summer holidays that began in the first week of July.
"I think more than 500 students from South Asia have been affected. A good number of Indian students have come here on education loans and find it difficult to buy expensive air tickets to visit their families. This is why they have fallen prey to agents that offer very cheap tickets," Roynish Pathak, a student from Chatisgarh studying at the Soochow University, told TNN.
Emirates Airlines and Malaysian airlines, which had disallowed students holding tickets from boarding flights, did not disclose what they thought about the quality of the tickets. They had demanded to see the credit cards with which the tickets were booked when Indian students tried to board flights at the Shanghai airport. But they have not categorically stated that the tickets were false.
It now turns out that Mohmmed Jabbar Miyan, the Bangladeshi travel agent who sold a large number of the dubious tickets, was not the only player in the racket. Students talk of other players including Jaweed Mohmmed, an Indian who operated form Guanzhou and a Nigerian who goes by the name of John. Jaweed is believed to have sold 112 tickets to students in Dalian.
Afzaal Jameel, one of the student-agents who sold tickets to a large number of students at Nanjing university, is facing a police case filed by one of the affected students. He is known to have returned to India in the first batch of four students who were allowed by Emirates Airlines to travel.
"I kept only 200 Yuan profit after getting the tickets at 3,600 from Mohmmed Jabbar Miyan. I sold the tickets to Afzaal at 3800 yuan and he then sold it at more than 4,400 Yuan," Sumeet, one of the student-agents used by the Bangladesh travel agent, told TNN. This is almost shocking because Emirates tickets normally cost more than 9,000 yuan.
Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com
One of the institutions, Soochow University has begun offering loans to its students who have been cheated and do not have the means to return home. But students in four other universities in Nanjing, Chongqing, Dalian and the Zhenshou university in Henan province remained confined to their hostels unable to go home during the five-week summer holidays that began in the first week of July.
"I think more than 500 students from South Asia have been affected. A good number of Indian students have come here on education loans and find it difficult to buy expensive air tickets to visit their families. This is why they have fallen prey to agents that offer very cheap tickets," Roynish Pathak, a student from Chatisgarh studying at the Soochow University, told TNN.
Emirates Airlines and Malaysian airlines, which had disallowed students holding tickets from boarding flights, did not disclose what they thought about the quality of the tickets. They had demanded to see the credit cards with which the tickets were booked when Indian students tried to board flights at the Shanghai airport. But they have not categorically stated that the tickets were false.
It now turns out that Mohmmed Jabbar Miyan, the Bangladeshi travel agent who sold a large number of the dubious tickets, was not the only player in the racket. Students talk of other players including Jaweed Mohmmed, an Indian who operated form Guanzhou and a Nigerian who goes by the name of John. Jaweed is believed to have sold 112 tickets to students in Dalian.
Afzaal Jameel, one of the student-agents who sold tickets to a large number of students at Nanjing university, is facing a police case filed by one of the affected students. He is known to have returned to India in the first batch of four students who were allowed by Emirates Airlines to travel.
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"I kept only 200 Yuan profit after getting the tickets at 3,600 from Mohmmed Jabbar Miyan. I sold the tickets to Afzaal at 3800 yuan and he then sold it at more than 4,400 Yuan," Sumeet, one of the student-agents used by the Bangladesh travel agent, told TNN. This is almost shocking because Emirates tickets normally cost more than 9,000 yuan.
Courtesy: www.timesofindia.com
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