2 Nigerians held for duping man of over Rs 13 lakh

Delhi Police's Crime Branch has arrested two Nigerians and an Indian who cheated people of lakhs of rupees.

The accused have been identified as George Ike alias Doctor Cosmos Brown (36), Ugwuele Bright Onyeka alias De Man Cooler (32) who are both from Nigeria. Their Indian aide, Vishal Sharma, a resident of Mumbai, has also been arrested.

The accused contacted people through social media, claiming they were a pharmaceutical company, Herbal Root Seeds, based in the UK doing research for the treatment of cancer. They urged people to buy seeds which would help in this treatment from a trader in Mumbai, Sharma, and sell it to their company at a higher price to make a profit.

The scam came to the fore when one S Rahul from Delhi, lodged a complaint with the crime branch alleging that he has been cheated by a group who contacted him through Facebook.

The complainant told police the accused had contacted him a few months ago and asked him to buy herbal root seeds from their Mumbai trader. The trader then sold him the seeds for Rs 13,07,400, said Bhisham Singh, DCP (Crime Branch).

"The complainant transferred Rs 13,04,700 as advance for five packets of seeds, following which Doctor Cosmos Brown, the Purchase Manager of the company visited his house to check the samples of seeds. After this they remained non-contactable on which the complainant approached the police," Singh said.

Using technical surveillance police traced the trader Vishal Sharma in Mumbai and his interrogation led police to the other accused.