Montgomery County woman says travel agency encouraged her to lie on religious pilgrimage to Mecca

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. ( DC News Now ) — A concerned Maryland woman is short of $11,000 after traveling to Saudi Arabia with the same traveling company as a Bowie couple who died in Mecca earlier in June.

Nemata Kamara of Montgomery County traveled with Silver Spring-based traveling agency Ehajj and Umrah Tours in June to fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam in Saudi Arabia. But to her despair, the traveling company issued her the wrong visa and encouraged her to lie to immigration officials in Saudi Arabia to let her in.

“It really pains me know knowing that, you know, something I’ve been praying for, hoping for – and then I finally planned it and never had the opportunity to experience it,” said Kamara, who had to return to the United States without experiencing what she described as one of the “holiest experiences in Muslim culture.”

Kamara was granted a business visa instead of a special Hajj visa that Saudi Arabian officials require for people to enter Mecca.

Those who break the law and enter Mecca illegally could face hefty fines up to $5,000, arrest and a 10-year ban, she said.

“That was the thing that really, really bugs me,” said Kamara who was encouraged to lie about why she was visiting Saudi Arabia. “I always feel like as Muslims we’re supposed to practice what you know the Quran tells us which is don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t deceive others.”

Despite constantly asking her touring company for help, Kamara said they instead kept giving her false promises that she would soon be getting the appropriate visa to enjoy her holy trip and enter Mecca legally.

However, after several days of waiting in Saudi Arabia with no clear guidance, Kamara decided to purchase an emergency flight back to the United States after learning the touring agency continued to break several foreign laws, including sneaking people into Mecca.

“Some of them have to walk two miles in the desert at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. Some of them were missing, they didn’t know where they at,” Kamara told DC News Now.

Kamara unexpectedly spent an additional $8,000 to fly back home after learning her holy trip turned sour.

The devout Muslim asked for her money back from the touring agency, and while they told her that they were working on helping her, Kamara said they had yet to refund her.

“I just want all the money I paid to get my money back and then for them to not ever do business again because you don’t want anybody to go through what we went through,” Kamara said.

DC News Now previously reported that Ehajj and Umrah Tours was not in “good standing” with the State of Maryland.

Their website was no longer active as of Monday and required a private login to access it. DC News Now reached out to the touring company directly but had not yet heard back.

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