Pune Tourists Detained in Egypt Over Fraudulent Documents, Demand Compensation
Pune, 8th January 2025: A dream vacation in Egypt turned into a distressing ordeal for three Pune residents, who were detained at Cairo’s Sphinx International Airport for over 30 hours due to alleged discrepancies in their travel documentation.
The incident, which occurred between December 20 and 21, involved two women and a man traveling on a tour package. Upon arrival, Egyptian immigration authorities flagged their guarantee letter, a mandatory document for Indian tourists on package tours, as invalid.
“The guarantee letter contained inaccurate details of local contacts required to vouch for the travelers. When officials attempted to verify the contacts, there was no response,” explained Vijay Thakkar, director of Hasmukh Travels, the agency that arranged the trip through a third-party visa service provider. The issue reportedly arose from the visa facilitator issuing a fraudulent guarantee letter.
The detained tourists were confined to a small cabin at the airport while awaiting resolution. “It was a race against time to prevent deportation. We managed to find a legitimate guarantor to satisfy the authorities, but the psychological toll on our clients was immense,” Thakkar added.
Having spent over ₹80,000 on the trip, the affected travelers are now demanding compensation from Hasmukh Travels for the ordeal. “We never anticipated such a horrifying experience on what was supposed to be a memorable vacation,” one of the travelers shared, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Travel experts have advised tourists to thoroughly verify the credibility of visa facilitators and the authenticity of all travel documents before embarking on international journeys to avoid similar predicaments.
