An African syndicate behind a spate of cheating cases in the country was busted this week, following the arrest of a Nigerian national at a plush hotel in the city suburb, a senior police official said yesterday.
He said the gang, with possible local links, had been operating in the country for a considerable period of time, and had successfully gained access to the bank account numbers of several individuals, mainly businesspersons and other prominent persons.
The suspect who was picked up in a ‘sting’ operation by the local police, was posing off as a United Nations (UN) diplomat, and was in possession of fake identity cards among other documents, investigations have revealed.
According to police, an operative from London would call a prospective victim in the country and announce that this individual had won a bonanza from a world leading beverage company, and therefore, they needed his bank particulars such as the account number, etc to deposit the prize.
“However, before this could be arranged, the individual was also asked to deposit a tax payment of Euros 250 to a particular bank account in London, to be later collected by the confidence trickster, and the matter ended there”, the official added.
The gang was busted after it contacted a leading businessman in the country with the same story.
The businessman, on being informed of the prize, declined to accept the offer. A few days later, they phoned the businessman once again, informing him that a courier had brought the prize money of some Euros 600,000 and sought a meeting to hand over the money.
The businessman whose suspicions were aroused from the inception, called in the police, and together they went on to set a trap for this foreigner. The businessman informed the Nigerian that they should meet in a hotel and, as agreed, when the Nigerian turned up at the scheduled hour, he was duly apprehended by the police.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) which is handling investigations, has now sought the assistance of Interpol, as the gang is widely believed to be active in several countries. |
E-mail
