Hyderabad, January 29: Five Nigerians were arrested on Friday for duping a school teacher from Nalgonda of more than Rs 18 lakh, in a case of lottery fraud. CID officials police arrested the five accused from Delhi. They are 45-year-old Joseph Ifeanyi Ibeneme alias Mark, 29-year-old Smart Chidi Oko, 28-year-old Jacob Uchenna Obuh, 34-year-old Iruka Jonathan and 33-year-old Jerry Chinenye Douglas.
According to additional director general, CID S Umapathi, Banothu Vasu, a school teacher from Nakrekal in Nalgonda, received an SMS on his mobile stating that his mobile phone had won 400,000 British pound sterling in 2010 Microsoft Anniversary Promo. The person who sent the SMS asked Vasu to contact at an email id- microsof2481@hotmail.com to realise the amount. Vasu received it on December 22 last year. When Vasu contacted the website, he was made to believe he had indeed won the lottery. On December 31, a person who identified himself as a diplomat Mark, came to the city and met Vasu.
“Mark showed a metallic box containing bundles of paper coated with black colour. He cleaned two notes with a special chemical and they turned to be $100 bills. Mark, however, told Vasu the chemical he possessed was decayed and left for Delhi to get it,” Umapathi said. After Mark went back to Delhi, he started demanding money on false pretexts like delivery charges, customs fee and for purchasing the chemical.
He collected Rs 18.42 lakh from Vasu. “Of the Rs 18 lakh, Mark collected Rs 15 lakh personally at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, while the remaining amount was deposited into various bank accounts,” Umapathi said. Then,
Vasu got suspicious about Mark and lodged a complaint with CID who registered cases of cheating and IT Act.
“Digital Investigation Lab of the CID tracked down the accused through mobile numbers and traced them to Delhi,” he added. After tracking down the accused, police obtained a search warrant and raided a house at Vasant Vihar to nab them. The five were brought to the city on a transit warrant and remanded to judicial custody. Police recovered three laptops, 10 mobile phones, SIM cards and ATM cards.
Police said out of the five accused, four did not have valid travel documents. Provisions of Foreigners Act were also invoked against them and a report would be sent to the ministry of External Affairs, the officer said.
-Agencies