A MAN has been charged with money laundering in connection with an investiagation into Hajj pilgrimage packages sold to Muslims via a TV channel.

Mudassir Shaheen, aged 37, of Green Lane, Great Lever, is charged with eleven counts of money laundering and is due to appear before Bolton Magistrates Court on March 3.

Police said the charges relate to an invesigation into 11 complaints last year that Muslim families across the UK had bought Hajj package holidays from a TV channel.

It is alleged that families paid up to £3,000 each for holidays, including a pilgrimage to Mecca, but did not receive tickets or refunds.

Hajj is an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, and is one of the five pillars of Islam.

All Muslims who are physically and financially able to must do it at least once in their lifetime.