5 Nigerians, 2 locals held for fraud

The Criminal Investigation Department has arrested five Nigerian footballers and two locals in Dhaka for allegedly defrauding a Bangladeshi woman of Tk 1.2 crore.

The arrest was made around three months of investigation into a case filed by the victim, Nadira Akhter, a freelance artist.

Ugochukwa Onochie alias Abro Bright, 32, Moris, 34, Obina, 35, Henry alias Short Henry, 28, Anthony Kezito Arinze, 26, and their Bangladeshi cohorts Kausar Ahmed and Raisul Islam Asad, a local footballer, were held on February 2.

They collected the information about Nadira as she had sent some of her pictures to a competition in England in 2016.

One of the gangsters later made a phone call to her during in May last year identifying himself as an officer of the competition, said the woman and CID officials.

The caller also informed Nadira that her artworks won the completion and she was sent an award worth 3,00000 pounds and some gifts, said Suman Kumar Das, an assistant superintendent of CID. Later, a gangster identifying herself as a customs official told Nadira about a parcel carrying a huge amount of British currency and valuables.

She also said Chittagong Port Authority blocked the parcel as a huge amount of money is required to get them released.

Nadira said she later had sent the money to bank accounts.