Diplomatic row erupts over Nigerian's death in Goa

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Diplomatic row erupts over Nigerian's death in Goa

NEW DELHI: Faced with what was seen as veiled threat to Indians in Nigeria, the Centre on Tuesday leaned on the Goa government to submit a fresh report shortly on the death of a Nigerian national in the sunshine state that has sparked a diplomatic incident.

The Centre approached the state government for taking a fresh look at the Nigerian's death in the wake of a threat purportedly issued by a Nigerian diplomat that Indians in his country could be targeted if those allegedly responsible for the killing of his compatriot were not arrested and the Goa Police's campaign to evict the Nigerians unlawfully staying in the state did not stop.

"There are only 50,000 Nigerians living in India but there are over a million Indians living in Nigeria. Thousands of Indians living there will be thrown out on the streets if the forcible eviction of Nigerians in Goa does not stop," agencies quoted Nigeria's consular attache Jacob Nwadadia saying on Monday.

Significantly, the spokesperson of Nigerian high commission Tokunbo Falohun also emphasized the presence of Indians in Nigeria as he protested against Goa Police's handling of the death of his compatriot last week at Mapusa near Panaji.

"There is a large Indian community working in Nigeria. There are two temples in Lagos and all Indians have freedom to worship and for their other activities. We also are demanding the same," agencies quoted Falohun, saying on Tuesday.

Nigeria also wrote a note verbale (diplomatic letter) to the MEA protesting against the death of one of its nationals in a violent incident in Goa, demanding that five persons, whom they identified as culprits, be arrested by the authorities.

The death has been linked to a feud between two gangs engaged in drug trafficking.

MEA's official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Tuesday, "MEA has assured Nigeria that we have excellent bilateral relations and that the issue will be settled in a cooperative manner in line with our friendly ties."

Senior MEA officials spoke to Nigerian high commissioner. In Abuja, the acting Indian high commissioner spoke to the Nigerian foreign office to update them on the situation.

"We have lost one of our nationals in a cold-blooded murder. We have raised the issue with India and written a note verbale on Friday to convey our concerns over the security of our nationals," said Falohun.

"The guilty should be immediately apprehended and brought to justice. And they should also compensate the family of the victim," he told news agencies.

A Nigerian national was found dead with stab wounds at Mapusa near Panaji last week, triggering protests from around 200 Nigerians who blocked a road. Local reports said the murder was fallout of inter-gang rivalry among drug gangs.

This led Goa CM Manmohan Parrikar to apparently order the police to locate foreign nationals, including Nigerians who were staying on without proper documentation.

Diplomatic row erupts over Nigerian's death in Goa - Times Of India

 

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Cops held Nigerian Prince with international narcotic link
May 20, 2011, 06.57am IST

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police claimed to have busted an international cocaine syndicate with the arrest of its Nigerian kingpin, Chris Chuwuemeka alias Prince, on Wednesday.

The police recovered 10 grams of 'fine-quality' cocaine and 100 grams of heroin from him. Officials said he made Indian girlfriends and used them to communicate with Indian clients in Hindi.

Cops held Nigerian Prince with international narcotic link - Times Of India

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B]Millions seized from Nigerian diplomat in India[/B]

DEALING IN MILLIONS: Captain Ojedokun is now behind the walls of his country's High Commission.


After being questioned by income tax authorities in connection with the biggest ever cash haul at an Indian airport, Captain Ojedokun is now behind these walls of his country's High Commission.


So prickly are the Nigerians about this incident that it appears they all have gone underground. No one is available to talk to us about this episode.


MEA sources dismiss any link between this case and that of two Indians kidnapped recently in Nigeria.


But the source and the intended use of the money remain unclear. It could be linked to a thriving drug syndicate, some suspect.
IntelliBriefs: Millions seized from Nigerian diplomat in India

Pros of con

Somalia's pirates may be making waves worldwide, but another African country is the origin of a global crime wave of sorts-Nigeria. India is a preferred target for Nigerian nationals with a criminal bent of mind, whose repertoire includes drug peddling, lottery scams and cybercrime.
P.K. Shareef, an NRI from Kannur who works in Qatar, was made to believe he had inherited property worth $15 million from a billionaire. Shareef was duped into shelling out as much as Rs.40 lakh for "processing the documents". The case led to the arrest of a Nigerian national, Saba Abdul Razakh, the first in India in what is popularly known as "Nigerian 419" email fraud. Razakh was arrested recently in Bangalore when he was to deliver the "fortune".

Epicentred in the West, 'Nigerian fraud' is now a worldwide web, with India a prime target. Sample this, from the US State Department's latest travel advisory for South/Central Asia-India: "West African/Nigerian fraud rings are also active in Mumbai. These cons target the victim's need or greed for quick money or ignorance of sound business practice... it is not uncommon for these groups to use the names of actual American diplomats or businessmen."

The email lottery con, a message in your inbox announcing a great business deal or millions of dollars won in a lottery, continues to snag more and more victims. As does what is known as the Black dollar fraud. The Chennai Police arrested Davidson, a Nigerian operating from Delhi, in February for duping a software engineer of Rs.3.5 lakh.

"The accused told the victim-Laxmikant Nayak from Orissa-that the money will be coated black to avoid customs trouble, and he could clean it with a solution later," said an investigator. The accused told Nayak that one litre of the solution would cost Rs.1.6 lakh and even demonstrated the cleaning process. Similar cases have been reported from the Capital, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states.

Then there are credit card scams. In July last year, three Nigerians were arrested for using forged credit cards. The police seized seven fake cards. The three men had also hacked several accounts to steal Rs.33.5 lakh, transferring the funds many times to throw off pursuers.

Drug peddling is also high on the Nigerian list in India: In as many as 80 per cent of cases where a foreign national was caught peddling drugs, the person involved was Nigerian. Delhi's Tihar Jail has about 100 Nigerians booked mostly in drugrelated cases, says Sunil Gupta, the jail's law officer.
The Nigerians arrested are usually between 30 and 45 years of age. Most come on a business Visa for 'garment exports'. The Intelligence Bureau worries over the Afghanistan-Taliban connection in the drug trade. Half of the 10-odd cases of drug smuggling involving Nigerians where arrests were made by the Delhi Police involved Afghans.

The Ministry of Finance said in a 2006 report that heroin "is being smuggled by Nigerian operators based in Delhi and Mumbai through Indian carriers… in quantities up to 10-20 kg from across the Indo-Pak border".

Nigerians are involved in immigration and job rackets too, sometimes using job sites and shortlisting potential victims. In one such case, one Chinoso Valentine Neebe alias Doughlas posed as a British High Commission official and duped people by offering jobs in the UK. He was arrested after five people from Andhra Pradesh and one from Nepal were caught by immigration officials at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport in January while boarding a London-bound flight on forged Visa documents.

Doughlas and his Hyderabad-based associate Sushant Nayak took Rs.4-6 lakh each from them. The Nigerian menace has stung the Delhi Police and the Central Bureau of Investigation enough for them to put their personnel through a six-week training programme in cybercrime investigation and computer forensics, of which Nigerian Fraud was a significant component.

The Nigerian High Commission says there are 3,000 of their citizens in India. What proportion of this population is criminal remains anybody's guess but a stolen passport or expired Visa remains the standard alibi for a Nigerian arrested on a criminal charge. "You need at least five men to apprehend one and they are very uncooperative," says L.N. Rao, ACP in Delhi Police's Special Cell.

Urban legend adds to the trouble. Says one Narcotics Control Bureau officer: "Sometimes constables are scared of dealing with Nigerians because they think they suffer from AIDS." Others say that many Nigerian women start stripping and screaming, feigning sexual assault, during questioning.
Law enforcers say they get little support from the Nigerian High Commission. Minister of Consular and Education matters at the Nigerian High Commission in New Delhi, Innocent O. Udeh refutes this. "There are times when Indian security agencies seek information we do not have. How can we provide such information?" he says.

What makes this mess unholy is the fact that High Commission operatives have been in the past held for suspicious activities. In 2007, Captain G.A. Ojedokun, defence adviser to the Nigerian envoy, became the first diplomat in the country to be penalised for a crime. He was caught with around Rs.10 crore while taking a flight to Lagos. It's a growing nightmare, and the law has some catching up to do.


Read more at: Pros of con : NATION - India Today

There is no doubt that the NIgerians are in the drug business real big time.

Go to any 'hep' city, be it Pune or Bangalore etc, there is no dearth of Nigerians, some passing off as students.

But scratch the surface and it will be discovered that many are involved in illegal activities.

It is not racism that upsets the local people, it is just that they are a group, as any other group, who are ruining the fibre of the local society.