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Lankan pilgrims warned about forged Saudi currency in local market

by Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh

The Sri Lankan embassy here had advised all the incoming Haj pilgrims to Makkah to purchase their Saudi currencies from banks and exchange houses that are registered with the government of Sri Lanka. The advisory came from the Sri Lanka ambassador in the Kingdom, Ibrahim Sahib Anzar in the wake of a detection of a forged Saudi Arabian currency from a Sri Lankan pilgrim when she arrived at the Haj Terminal in Jeddah, Wednesday.

As a result of the detection, the Sri Lankan group comprising 52 Hajis who came by the Royal Jordanian Airlines was delayed for three hours at the Haj Terminal. The thirty five years old, Abdul Majeed Sithi Malliha from Eravur had three thousand Saudi Riyals in her possession and one of the hundred Riyal notes was found to be counterfeit. The pilgrim who found to be ignorant of the forged currency confessed that she bought the currencies from Mustaffa Hajara Travels in Oddamavaddy, a Muslim settlement in the eastern part of Sri Lanka. She said that the cash of SR 3,000 was handed over to her by one A. K. Salahuddin on payment of the equivalent amount in Sri Lankan rupees.

Speaking about the incident Ambassador Ansar told Daily News that the mission's team headed by Consul General A. C. M. Ibrahim was at the Haj Terminal at the time of detection. The envoy said that the Saudi Customs accepted the ignorance and innocence of the woman who has brought the currencies and she has been pending further inquiry to enable her to perform her Haj rituals.

Ansar said that it is safer to carry demand drafts or travellers cheques instead of Saudi Riyal notes purchase in the open market in Colombo, he added that a few unscrupulous traders may try to exploit the innocence and ignorance of the pilgrims who are God fearing. The ambassador said that pilgrims prefer to bring Saudi Riyal notes to avoid spending time in cashing dollars at the exchange houses here.

Consul General Ibrahim said that an incident of this nature not only causes delays in the clearance of pilgrims from the Haj Terminal but it also reflects badly on the country where they come from. So far, a few hundred Hajis out of the expected six thousand Hajis from Sri Lanka have come here.

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