Nigerians in city come under police scanner
Alarm after two Kolkata-based Nigerian footballers were arrested in Nagpur with fake passports.
Alarmed over the arrest of two city-based Nigerian footballers in Nagpur for carrying fake passports, the Kolkata Police has decided to gather intelligence on Nigerian nationals settled in the city.
While raiding hotels and lodges to check for illegal entrants on Saturday, the Nagpur police apprehended the two Nigerians, who they claimed were travelling with fake passports and had been to the city to play for Rahul Football Club.
Read: Nigerian man among 3 nabbed with counterfeit US dollars
“The arrest set off alarm bells here. A huge number of Nigerian nationals are settled in the city, off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. It’s high time we gathered information about them,” a police officer said.
The foreigner registration office under the Security Control Department of Kolkata Police keeps record of foreigners visiting Kolkata. However, in the wake of the Nagpur arrests, the top brass of Kolkata Police has planned to direct all police stations in its jurisdiction to mine intelligence on Nigerians staying in areas under their control.
“We carry out random checks on Nigerians who take up rented accommodation in the city and seek details from their landlords. However, we now need to be more watchful and scan every bit of information on Nigerians living in areas within the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police,” said an officer-in-charge of a city police station.
Read: Inspired by Nigerian inmate, football fever takes over Assam prison
Mumbai Police recently compiled a 16-page report on how Nigerians, who run online fraud rackets, try to get their names in police records after landing in India. They go all out to get arrested for some petty crime, as it gives them an opportunity to spend more days in India and entrench themselves in the time it takes for their cases to come to trial.
“We’re alarmed over rising incidents of cyber crime in Kolkata. From internet fraud to cocaine and drug smuggling, most of these Nigerians who take up residence in Kolkata are involved criminal activities. Many have been arrested in the recent past,” an official of the detective department of Kolkata Police said.
