Delhi Police have arrested two Cameroonian nationals, who had allegedly duped a Pune resident of Rs 30 lakh on the pretext of getting chemicals to convert "black dollars" into real dollars.
The accused, identified as Simplice Manfred (34) and Roland Guiffo (30), are residents of the Republic of Cameroon.
The duo came under the police scanner on January 21 when Narinder, a resident of Pune in Maharashtra, reported that he had been duped of Rs 30 lakh by two persons on pretext of providing "Black Dollars".
Police registered a case and took up investigation.
"The complainant was befriended by the two during his stay at a Paharganj hotel. On January 12, the foreigners informed him that they had 'Black Dollars' worth Rs 1 crore and in order to convert these into legitimate dollars, they need mercury to be extracted from Indian Rupees and for this they need Rs 30 lakh and that too in denomination of 1,000," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Parmaditya.
They asked him to arrange Rs 30 lakh and in lieu of this assured him of 25 per cent of the cleaned dollars in addition of his Rs 30 lakh. The complainant fell into their trap and subsequently arranged the money, he said.
On January 18, the accused came to Narinder's hotel room with a green bag and an aluminium box, and took the money from him, wrapped the rupees in an aluminium foil and put it into the box. Then the accused poured some chemical into the box and connected the box with a electric socket.
After some time, accused Simplice Malfred took the box into the bathroom and handed over the bundle wrapped in a warm cloth to the complainant directing him to open the bundle only after two days otherwise the rupees will be spoiled.
They left the hotel on the pretext of arranging chemicals to clean the 'Black Dollars' but did not turn up.
Thereafter, the accused contacted the complainant over phone and asked him to arrange Rs 10 lakh more saying the chemical was expensive and more money was required. The complainant became suspicious and opened the wrapped bundle and found black papers instead of Indian notes.
Soon, he reported the matter to police. "We then laid a trap by asking the complainant to call the duo to collect Rs 10 lakh as asked by them from near Munje Chowk, Paharganj. The duo were nabbed when they came to collect the money," he said.
After interrogation of the accused, a raid was conducted in a hotel in Malviya Nagar area where they were they were staying since January 17 and US $19,400 were recovered from their room, he added.
Simplice Manfred told police that he, along with Ronald, had come to India in December 22 and went to Mumbai in search of a prey. They returned to Delhi on January 11. In Delhi, they met the complainant and won his confidence. Thereafter, they hatched the conspiracy and cheated the complainant. Further interrogation is in progress, police said.
