Three Nigerians among five arrested in Delhi for cheating

Five persons, including three Nigerian nationals, were arrested here for allegedly duping people of several lakhs of rupees after telling them that they had won online lotteries abroad, police said today.
 
Police have detected 26 bank accounts opened using fake documents, 11 mobile phones, three laptops, a motorcycle with fake number plate and Rs1.05lakh cash from them, deputy commissioner of police (North-West) N S Bundela said.
 
Sylvester Jackson Aigboh, Odibo Ahabua, Ukato Young Ben, the Nigerians, Farizul Haq and Naresh Kumar were caught recently following investigations into the chance arrest of their Indian associates.
 
Haq and Kumar were caught last month during a routine traffic drive as they were seen riding without helmets. Haq allegedly disclosed his identity as Raj Verma at that time but the registration and insurance was of the vehicle they were travelling in was in the name of one Anil Kumar.
 
Two each PAN cards and driving licences with same photo but different names were also recovered from then. Becoming suspicious, police interrogated the duo and it came to light that they made these fake cards for opening bank accounts for their Nigerian associates.
 
After a series of raids, police managed to arrest the three Nigerians from Chattarpur on October 10. According to Bundela, the accused used to make telephone calls or SMS to their targets in different states telling them that they have won a lottery in Britain.
 
"If someone replied to their messages, they used to give a bank account to deposit small money to confirm credentials of the winner. They also directed their targets not to disclose the fact that they have won the lottery to anyone," he said.
 
The bank accounts were opened by their Indian associates who allegedly opened accounts using fake names like Delta Solutions, A N Internationals, M/s Aakash Bansal, Brand Tech International, Sumit Internationals and Atlanta Enterprises.
 
"These names gives an impression of international trading and huge amount is deposited from remote areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Delhi and Rajasthan," Bundela said.
 
After getting the initial amount, he said, the gang allegedly used to ask money from the "winners" for clearance that they were not involved in terrorist activities, drug trade and income tax departments. "While the Nigerians used to make the phone calls, the
withdrawal of money was done by their Indian associates. The Indians withdrew the money. The majority share were kept by the Nigerians," he said.