A group of four Nigerian nationals has been arrested for allegedly duping a young sales manager of Rs 27 lakh on one pretext or the other after offering to sell him a superbike at a throwaway price, police said.
Chanakyapuri police arrested the four Nigerians in connection with the matter and fake US dollars of face value of 1,95,500, Indian currency of Rs 4,04,000 and 'raw material' to make millions of dollars were recovered from them.
The four accused have been identified as Mathew Bobsy Imonitie (42), Ouattara Djebo Lazar (37), Timothee Moleka (23) and Tibidje Yves alias Khalifa.
The gang was apprehended last Sunday at 11.30 P.M. Near the Netherlands Embassy with complainant Manjit Chadha alleging that they had cheated him.
"In February, Chadha came across an online advertisement which said that a Suzuki Hayabusa GSX 1300R was available for a mere Rs 3.5 lakh against a market value of Rs 15 lakh. Chadha reached out to the seller, Anil Patil, who took the money in advance but then told him of the scope of buying luxury cars at throwaway prices," said Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) MK Meena.
Patil thereafter went missing but forwarded Chadha's number to one James who, claiming to have access to similar cars and bikes, introduced him to a person called Mathew.
Mathew met Chadha in person on March 17 at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon. He then proceeded to show Chadha a black paper note which he cleaned with a chemical mix to reveal a US dollar.
Faced with this intriguing situation, Chadha decided to pursue the option. James and Mathew then introduced him to one Kwame who they said was the chief security officer in the UK embassy. Mathew and James both told Chadha that they were attached to the UK embassy.
The duo then started forcing Chadha to give them money for the purpose of procuring chemicals needed to clean a large consignment of black paper bills. Over a period of about two- and-a-half months, Chadha gave this group around USD 45,000 or Rs 27 lakh.
"On May 19, they gave a box to Chadha claiming it contained a few million dollars. The box was a safe with a combination lock and a physical key, but Chadha had access to none.
They then sent a technician called Khalifa to open the box but he asked Chadha to procure Rs 15 lakh in 1,000 rupee notes for doing the same," said Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi.
During the process of 'cleaning' the black bills, Khalifa started acting suspiciously. And, when accosted by Chadha, he fled with his Rs 10 lakh, police said.
Chadha then called Kwame and told him to send his people for more money. When they came in front of Taj Hotel, Chanakyapuri, Chadha nabbed them with the help of the PCR team.
During interrogation, the apprehended persons failed to produce their passport/identity details. A case under relevant sections has been registered and further inquiry is on in the case, police said.
