Ministry of Foreign Affairs urges citizens to verify fake travel agencies

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

As directed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the embassy, represented by the Consular and Administrative Affairs and the Consular Services Sector, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Baghdad has initiated contact with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior to retrieve detained travel documents of Bahraini citizens.

This came following the complaints received by Bahrain’s embassy in Baghdad regarding a hotel in Karbala City detaining the passports of 140 Bahraini citizens visiting the city, after the owner of the travel agency failed to pay for the hotel's management and his sudden disappearance. Joint efforts have resulted in the retrieval of the detained travel documents at last.

MoFA urges Bahraini citizens wishing to travel, to verify the licenses of travel agencies by the laws in force in Bahrain, before making reservations and payments, after repeated cases of fake bookings and failure of agency owners to take responsibility for travellers through such fake bookings, which exposes them to risks during travel.

MoFA, represented by the Consular and Administrative Affairs, stresses the importance of individuals' awareness of legal actions against travel agency owners and fake or unlicensed travel agencies through official channels and competent government agencies in the Kingdom of Bahrain, confirming that the Ministry's consular services sector and all missions, embassies, and consulates of Bahrain are in full readiness to follow up on such cases.