Mumbai Crime: Man pays for component of cancer med, finds he's cheated

The accused were arrested by Kurar police. Pic/Hanif Patel

The Kurar police have arrested five men involved in duping people on the pretext of supplying a chemical used to make medicines for cancer to a UK-based company. The racket came to light when a 73-year-old retired businessman was cheated of Rs 14.4 lakh by the gang. According to police sources, a woman called Rosemary, who claimed to be a deputy manager of a UK-based Octa pharmaceutical company, befriended the complainant, Jagjeet Singh online, and they began chatting from July this year.

Convinced, Singh credited money

Police said she later told Singh that her company makes the world's best medicine to cure cancer. She said a chemical used in it is available at a very low price in India but costs USD 7,000 per litre abroad. She told him if he could supply it, her company would buy three litres of it from him at USD 27,000 per litre. Police said she also gave him a Delhi-based chemical provider's account number and details, to purchase it. Singh credited Rs 14.4 lakh into this account. "But when he did not receive the chemical and Rosemary did not respond to his calls, he realised he had been duped. He then approached Kurar police and registered a complaint on July 26, 2019," said a senior police officer.

"We caught five accused from Mira Road on September 26," said another officer. The accused have been identified as Mohammed Saizad alas Rizvi Zubair Siddique, 41, Iftekhar Sheikh, 30, Maskur Ahmed alas Kaif Ahmed Siddique, 38, Mohammed Babban Sheikh, 30, and Kailash Mandliya, 23. The police recovered Rs 14 lakh cash, over a dozen ATM and credit cards of various nationalised and scheduled banks, and mobile phones from the accused.

International gang of con artists

During the investigation it was revealed that the accused worked for an international gang of fraudsters, involving Nigerians, who dupe people in India on the pretext of selling and purchasing the chemical. Several Nepali nationals are also involved in this racket. "We have caught a single chain of such rackets and arrested 5 accused. Many such rackets are active in the city and we are looking for those involved. Under the guidance of Senior Inspector Baba Saheb Salunkhe, API GS Gharge and his team has done remarkable work and busted this gang," said DCP DR D Swammi, Zone 12.

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