Conmen who duped Naga ladies nabbed from Delhi, Uttaranchal

Nigerian in police custody

Dimapur, May 11 : Three persons, including one from Nigeria, have been arrested by Dimapur police from Delhi and Uttaranchal on charges of duping three Naga women of more than 30 lakh. The fourth accused is in judicial custody. 

Having to fall victim to seer greed and easy money, three Naga ladies were reportedly duped in a Ponzi  amounting to about Rs 37 lakh during February and March this year. However, Nagaland police swung into action and arrested four persons from Delhi and Uttaranchal and brought to Dimapur for further investigation.

The arrest was made following three FIRs filed with the Dimapur East Police Station by the victims. IPS probationer Dinesh Gupta, attached with the Dimapur East Police Station, and Sub-inspector Chopika Chophy were deputed to the case. It took them 15 days to accomplish the mission by arresting two persons each from Uttarakhand and New Delhi.

The three persons accused of involvement in the crime have been identified. They are Chiazo Nwaneri (34) alias Jasper from Nigeria; Narender Singh Bisht (27) from Uttarakhand, and Laxman Karniyal (36) from Uttarakhand. The fourth accused, a Chandan Kumar Choudary (28) of Bihar, has been placed in judicial custody.

They were produced before media persons in the office of the Dimapur Deputy Commissioner of Police Wednesday afternoon. 

The police said that the three Naga ladies, identities withheld, had filed complaints with the East Dimpaur Police Station in February and March stating they were duped amounting to Rs 31.5 lakh, Rs 6,47, 000  and Rs 25,000 in that order.

Briefing media persons, IPS probationary officer Dinesh Gupta said that the case related with cybercrime and economic fraud. The modus operandi of the accused persons, according to him, was to make fake Facebook accounts in the name of an Englishman. Through these accounts, the gullible ladies, normally those in the 30s, the conmen would pitch good news such as their having won lotteries of major companies and organizations such as Coco Cola, RBI, and BBC etc. It was informed that the accused persons would befriend their victims on Facebook and would convince them with promissory gifts such as Apple laptop, iPhones, and “Apple jewelry” among others. The victims were then asked to deposit money under various pretexts of security clearances, custom duty, even an ‘anti- terrorism clearance fees’, and RBI clearance fees, and foreign exchange fees etc for delivery of the promised items.

One of the victims from Nagaland was threatened for refusing to pay additional money, police said.

Police recovered 42 SIM cards, six mobile phones, a laptop, nine ATM cards, three portable routers, three pass books, three cheque books, three pen drives and a fake Visa from the accused.

Terming the crime ‘pan India fraud,’ Dinesh Gupta said that the accused were operating the racket across the country. He said that victims included those from Gujarat, Maharasthra, Nepal, Itanagar, Pune, and West Bengal.

The police have not ruled out other many cases that may have gone unreported. In this regard, the authorities have informed the public to report to the police cases of fraud or suspicions about them.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Vilhousie Peseyie, has appreciated the two police officers for their success. He hoped they would achieve further in their fight against crime.