Nigerian national convicted for duping Kolkata citizen

Kolkata: A Nigerian national was awarded five years imprisonment for duping a citizen on the pretext of sending gifts and impersonating another person. According to Kolkata Police, the incident took place during May, last year. A woman had lodged a complaint against a man with whom she met on social media. The man had introduced himself as Eric James, a British citizen.

After chatting for a few days, the fraudster told the woman that he had sent her a gift which contained foreign currency along with other objects. After a few days, the man again told the woman that the gift had been detained by Customs officials and she will have to pay duty to release the same. After the woman agreed and paid Rs 7.86 lakh, all sorts of communication was stopped from the man’s end. During the probe, police traced that the money was credited to the branch of a nationalised bank at Hnahthial in Mizoram. However, the phone number linked to the account was not of the bank account owner.

Later, the police, using technological help, arrested the Nigerian national identified as Emeka Young from Delhi. After the investigation, a chargesheet was filed within the stipulated time. Police had also appealed for a custody trial which was granted. After the trial, Young was found guilty and awarded five years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 52,000.