By IANS,
Gandhinagar : A Nigerian gang of foreign currency counterfeiters seeking to target gullible non-resident Gujaratis (NRGs) has ended up in the hands of the police.
A 35-year-old Nigerian, James Lucas, was nabbed with fake American currency late last month by the Surat police. Lucas has revealed his Mumbai connections after being remanded to police custody by the local court.
During his interrogation Lucas said that he was a front for Kumar, a Mumbai resident, who had asked him to deliver a bag to a person named Vishal based in Surat.
Lucas was nabbed with fake dollars equivalent to Rs.21 lakh in Indian currency. The fakes were in a safe with a digital lock that had to be cut open by the police. Sent for examination to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here, the American currency was confirmed as fake.
Investigations revealed that a south Gujarat based physiotherapist had responded to an e-mail by Kumar who had promised him US dollars at rates considerably below the official conversion price. The physiotherapist had deposited the equivalent Indian currency in Kumar’s bank account and Lucas had come to deliver the fake American currency when he was nabbed.
Police in south Gujarat had been getting reports that gangs with Nigerian nationals who were fronts had been active in Surat, Navsari, Valsad and Vapi areas targeting gullible NRG families with offers of dollars and other European currency at below par rates.
With a large number of relatives in Britain, the US and other European countries, these families are always in need of foreign currency and become easy prey for such fly by night counterfeiters.
In June this year, pooice had nabbed two Nigerians, Adam Christi and Thomas Christi, moving around Piplod near Surat carrying a large number of fake Euros. The two had cheated a Surat land broker Rajesh Majethia of Rs.8.80 lakh with a promise of giving him Euros at below par rates. They had plans to palm off the fakes to him.
In a key judgement, Justice Z.K.Saiyed of the Gujarat High Court has equated circulation of fake currency with waging war against the nation. The observation came while dismissing a bail plea of Lal Babu and Lalan Kushwah who were nabbed with Indian currency subsequently confirmed as fake by the FSL here.
“Such notorious activity by anti-socials is rampant and not only directly affects the economy but is being (used) by terrorists to wage a war against the nation. If bail is granted in such cases, it will send a wrong signal to society and nullify the vigil by our police and armed forces,” it said.