Nigerian national, his Nagaland-born wife arrested for duping man in Odisha

Balasore (Odisha), Aug. 27 (PTI): Two more members of a gang – a Nigerian national and his Nagaland-born wife – were arrested from Delhi by the cyber wing of Balasore police for allegedly duping a man in the district after befriending him by using a fake social media profile, the state police said on Saturday.

The fresh arrests were made after taking another Nigerian Samson Emeke Alika (39) into custody in the case on August 6, 2022, the police said.

Alika was arrested from New Delhi for allegedly extorting INR 30 lakh from the man in Odisha’s Balasore district through honey trap. Based on the information provided by him, the couple – Emmanuel Namani (35) and Suchim Tikhir (32) were apprehended, the police said.

The cyber police station of Balasore had started investigation following the complaint by the victim in January this year that he was duped by a foreigner through a honey trap. Speaking on the couple’s modus operandi, a senior police officer said Namani used the name and photo of a woman reportedly from the UK and befriended the unsuspecting man through a fake Facebook profile. He would chat over Facebook and even offered the victim valuable gifts. After such conversations Tikhir would call up the person, identify herself as a customs officer and demand charges to dispatch the gifts.

She also warned the victim that if he did not pay the charges, he would be penalized. The police suspect that the couple had defrauded more persons.

INR 6 lakh in cash, two laptops, passports, nine mobile phones and gold chains have been seized from the couple, the police officer said. The couple were arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act by Balasore police and brought here on transit remand on Saturday. Alika too had been brought here on transit remand from Delhi.