SHAMEFUL:
NIGERIAN Conman, DONATUS EMEKA ONYEJIUWA Defrauds Bangladeshi Varsity Don of $3,308…Arrested, Placed on 2-day Remand in Sylhet
*Suspect is King of International gang which conned Tk4.76 lakh out of a SUST professor
*Arrived Bangladeshi for 3 months, Detained by Detective Branch police at a hotel on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway
* Deceived Prof. Faruque Miah of Genetic Engineering dept. at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology over FAKE academic confab in USA
*Case filed with Shah Paran police station under the Special Powers Act, 1974
BY LUKMAN JUBRIL/ANTI-GRAFT REPORTER, Live in Bangladeshi
BANGLADESHI SECRET POLICE have arrested a Nigerian fraudster, DONATUS EMEKA ONYEJIUWA described as King of International gang that specialize in deceiving elites, faking non-existent ceremonies in United States to ‘milk their innocent victims.’ He was apprehended in his hotel hide-out in Sylhet after siphoning the sum of $3,308 from Professor Faruque Miah of Genetic Engineering department at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, SUST.
Onyejiuwa had only spent barely three months in Bangladeshi but craftily conned Professor Miah in various forms for him to attend an academic workshop in United States. He is alleged to be the notorious leader of an international gang which conned Tk4.76 lakh out of a SUST professor, on the pretext of making arrangements to send the academic to a seminar abroad.
This Nigerian national is accused of defrauding a Bangladeshi university professor of thousands of US dollars to attend a bogus conference in the United States had been put on a two-day remand few days ago.
Earlier in the day, police produced him before the court with a seven-day remand prayer. Onyejiuwa had been in Bangladesh for three months when he was detained by Detective Branch, DB, police at a hotel on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
He was taken to Sylhet for interrogation and produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court on Friday. According to Paritosh Ghosh, additional commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police in a joint press conference, he said “Prof Faruk Miah received an email invitation in February, to a seminar in the USA.”
He said that a few days later, professor Faruk expressed his interest in attending the seminar by return email. The “organizers” then asked him to send $500 to book a hotel room for 10 days in the USA. Prof Faruk suggested he could stay with friends in the USA but when this idea was rejected by the fraudsters, he paid the money through Western Union Money Transfer via a contact in Belgium.
Gopal Chakraborty, additional deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan police detective branch explained “The gang has a bank account in Dinajpur’s Hili,” , said. “They might have more bank accounts. We are tracking down mobile numbers of the gang.”
On March 1, Professor Faruk got an email saying the US immigration service had confirmed his visa, which would arrive by March 19-21. He was then asked to send photocopies of his passport plus $160 in visa fees, $95 for insurance fees and $1,399 as a deposit which, he was told, would be refunded at the airport when he returned home from the seminar.
The fake organizers then asked him to pay $1,800 for a number of other items such as a conference package, visa approval letter, US embassy appointment letter, and air ticket. This money was also refundable, they said.
Prof Faruque sent a total of $3,308 to a bank account in two phases via a friend in Belgium. On March 27, an African national met Prof Faruque near Shahjalal International Airport. The man loaded a piece of luggage into the professor’s car and asked him to take it to Sylhet. He also asked Prof Faruque to contact the organizers. After bringing the luggage to Sylhet he found it was a locked box.
The next day, a person identifying himself as a representative of the organizing firm asked the professor to meet him with the box near a hotel in Upashahar of Sylhet city.
Prof Faruque met a Nigerian there who took him to a car and drove him to a school field, where the Nigerian opened the box and showed a machine for making fake dollars. The professor was baffled when the Nigerian produced two $100 bills in front of him.
The professor asked why he should take the machine, and asked for the seminar documents instead. The Nigerian then left him alone in the car and went back to the hotel. After some time the Nigerian’s mobile number was found switched off. Only then did the professor realize he had been cheated and reported the matter to the police, who arrested him.
A case has been filed with the Shah Paran police station under the Special Powers Act, 1974. The Nigerian conman has surely brought shame unto himself, his family and Nigeria.
