Four Nigerian men living in India have been accused of being the masterminds of a daring robbery operation in which 1.5 Crore ($240,000.00) worth of gold was stolen.
A fifth Nigerian, Saiki Onimisi Dele, is still being sought in connection with the crime, according to the Times of India.
The Nigerians, who are based in Bengaluru, capital of India’s southern Karnataka state, have been arrested by the police and have reportedly confessed to the crime.
The robbery, which took place in Hyderabad, was carried out along with a Peruvian gang, comprising a men and two women.
According to the police, the gold was stolen, on April 16, in broad daylight from a gold jeweler, Abhishek Agarwal, after the gang diverted his attention by puncturing his car’s tyre.
One of the woman then walked away with the victim’s bag, which contained 3.5kg of gold, while he was busy replacing the tyre.
Police discovered the identities of the suspects after analysing the CCTV footage of the incident.
The CCTV footage showed a white Toyota Camry following Agarwal’s car. Police then traced the car to the owner, who claimed to have sold it to two Nigerians, named Michael and Balkans, on April 6.
Police, thereafter, used the immigration database to track down the two Nigerians in Bengaluru, on June 1. “
“On June 1, Nigerians, Richard and Henry, and later, their associates, Paul and Wale, were arrested,” Commissioner of Police in-charge of Cyberabad, Sandeep Shandilya, disclosed on Friday.
Their Peruvian accomplices, identified as Miranda Romero Daniel, Pacheco Rojas Percy Moises and Infanzon Sulca Rosa Ysabel, were later discovered to have fled the country.
“They fled with the booty to Nepal by road and escaped to Malaysia after disposing of gold either in West Bengal or in Nepal,” said police.
CP Sandeep further said: “The accused may have committed more of such offences in India. We will initiate proceedings to issue an Interpol red corner notice against the three Peruvians and an on-the-run Nigerian, Saiki Onimisi Dele alias Michael alias Benjamin.”
He added that the police have recovered several debits cards, credit cards, and 130gm of gold from the Nigerians.
Indian police officers 