Nigerian 'royal' held for cheating 25 people in Ahmedabad

A lavish lifestyle is not easy to maintain, even for royals these days. This is apparent from the DCB's latest bust, in which a royal from Nigeria was arrested for conning about 25 Gujarat-based customers of Rs90 lakh, with tall claims of sending them abroad with full legal documents. The con was so elaborate that the man even set up a fake company in Canada.  

The grandson of the king of Bayelsa state of southern Nigeria was apprehended at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport by the detection of crime branch (DCB) on Tuesday. According to DCB inspector, Paresh Solanki, he received a tip-off claiming that one 'Jim Khaisi' would be travelling through the city's international airport to another country. The PI and his team rushed to the airport and found the man there. He was arrested and interrogated at the airport.

After preliminary interrogation, the cops learned that the man's real name was Irapomo Iradiri. The cops recovered $10,000, along with a laptop and four mobile phones, from Iradiri. The man was carrying two passports - one from Ghana and the other from his native Nigeria.

The police also recovered four identity cards from the man bearing four different identities, Jim Khaisi, Conte Fiyong, Assante Clinton and Sanko Edo. Visiting cards, letterheads, along with other stationery bearing names of various companies made by Iradiri, were also seized.

According to cops, the man used to target people from Ahmedabad and Rajkot, who were itching to travel to foreign countries such as Canada, UK, Dubai and Australia to work there. Iradiri reportedly used to work only via email, forging documents such as passports, visas and air tickets among others. He had even set up an imaginary firm named 'Tumaniya', through which he would make deals with his alleged victims.

In 2010, one Manish Panchal, a resident of Nava Vadaj, had registered a complaint with DCB stating that he had been duped by Rajkot-based Vidhi Visa Consultancy, run by one Divyesh Bhut. Panchal alleged that he had been introduced to Iradiri through Bhut. The investigation of the complaint led to the arrest of five men, including Bhut. This is how the cops came to know of this 'royal' conman. By the time the cops caught up with him, the man had duped at least 25 men such as Panchal amounting to a total con of about Rs90 lakh.

"Had he not been caught, he was planning to extend his con to other major cities of the country, including New Delhi. There is one more Nigerian man involved in the con who is yet to be apprehended," said Solanki.