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The officer in charge of East Police Station, Amit Nigam (left), seen here with the two accused at the station in Dimapur. (EM Images)[/caption]
Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, June 11 (EMN): A special operation team from the Nagaland police successfully nabbed two brothers Sabir and Shakir, residents of Jhenjhpuri village in Rajasthan on charges of scamming people on online resell and retail websites. They are said to have been duping buyers on popular websites such as OLX.
The police team were led by officer in-charge (OC) of Dimapur's East Police Station, Amit Nigam.
An FIR that was filed on June 16 under the IPC Act and IT Act by a resident of Padumpukhuri in Dimapur stated that the complainant had visited on June 14 the popular buy and sell website OLX. It was there that the buyer, a woman, came across a seller by the name of one Vikram Waghmere.
With the intention to buy an IPhone, a deal between the seller and the buyer was arrived at through exchange of phone numbers and various Whatsapp messages. The deal was INR 34000 for an iPhone 7 plus, media persons were informed by Nigam at East Police Station.
After numerous bank transactions amounting to INR 67400, which included an advance, two "late fees" and other "ridiculous" reasons for payment, the victim also received a bogus phone call from a well known courier service "Overnight Express" claiming that the phone would be delivered only after the full amount of INR 67400 was paid.
The OC informed that the police team left for Bharatpur in Rajastan on June 1 after an extensive investigation. The probe involved thorough research involving bank account details of both the victim and the two accused, and mobile forensic analysis of four phone numbers provided to the victim.
"The analysis of bank account details traced to a State Bank of India account located at Nuh, Haryana and another account traced to a Punjab National Bank in Bharatpur, Rajasthan," OC Nigam informed.
Nigam informed that the team reached the Bharatpur SP's office on June 4 where they deputed a Special Operation Group as they were "knowledgeable of the local conditions."
After informing the senior officers about the operation and acknowledging the quick progress of the mission, the senior officials suggested that they get the customer application forms of the phone numbers.
As luck would have it, the OC informed that the two accused had used their own identification cards which directed them to Jhenjhpuri village, a little over 50 kms from Bharatpur.
The SOG and the Nagaland police team on June 4 arrived at Jhenjpuri which was informed to be a "notorious village known for stone pelting and firing at police."
On June 5, with the help of an informant, the house of the two accused was raided and after much tussle, Sabir and Shakir were overpowered by the team of six including Nigam.
The OC revealed that the modus operandi of the scammers was well-planned and executed by Sabir and Shakir.
"They fooled their victims by telling them that they were with the Indian army," Nigam informed. The duo even went to the extent of donning military uniforms and providing army identification cards via Whatsapp to their victims, it was informed.
It was also informed that the brothers took their "gimmick" to another level by using Google maps to fool their victims telling them their location as a place closest to where the victims resid.
During the operation, the OC informed, Nagaland police were the only force to have had all information and particulars of the accused before raiding. "The two accused have duped many people all over the country, and other police forces did not have the information like we did," he said.
According to the two accused their operandi had been running since December 2016.