New Delhi: Three persons, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly duping a man of over Rs 13 lakh on the pretext of selling herbal seeds used in cancer research.
George Ike, Ugwuele Bright Onyeka and Vishal Sharma were arrested from Mumbai on the complaint of a Sarita Vihar resident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bhisham Singh said.
According to police, the accused would use women members of the gang to interact with the victims on social media.
S Rahul, a resident of Sarita Vihar who was looking to start his own business, was cheated of Rs 13,07,400 by the accused, who contacted him through Facebook.
A woman, Armand Linda contacted the complainant in March through Facebook and the two became friendly and started chatting.
She claimed to be working in the UK as an assistant purchase manager of a firm named Health Pro Pharmaceutical Company.
After they started interacting often, she told him that her company wanted to purchase Aquaslotin Herbal Root Seeds which is used for research and treatment of cancer.
The woman asked him to purchase the seeds from a trader in Mumbai at lower rates and then sell it to her company at higher price and offered to share the profit, police said.
Linda also provided him an email id of one Anitha Sharma of Sharma Traders in Mumbai. He contacted Sharma and after the deal was cracked, he transferred Rs 13,04,700 as an advance payment for five packets of seeds, said the officer.
Ike, who allegedly posed as Dr Cosmos Brown, purchase manager of the company, visited Rahul s house and checked the samples of seeds and agreed to purchase them.
On his directions, Raul formed a proprietorship firm.
However, after the firm was formed, the company told him that they would go ahead with the business deal only if he supplies them 50 packets.
After putting forth this demand, they disappeared and even the numbers through which they interacted with the accused through whatsapp calls were found to be unreachable.
Rahul filed a police complaint and the investigation was taken up, the officer said.
A team then traced Sharma, in whose bank account the cheated amount was transferred. He was arrested from Mumbai on June 23. Following his arrest, the other two accused, Ike and Onyeka, were arrested on June 28 from Navi Mumbai.
The police suspect the involvement of more persons and are verifying whether Linda and Sharma are the real names of the two women who had interacted with the complainant. The cellphones of the accused have been seized.
The Nigerian nationals were found to be living here without valid visas, police said.
—PTI