Bangalore : Sleuths from the Central Crime Branch have arrested two Nigerians and a city-based couple for allegedly cheating a senior citizen of Rs 11.90 lakh by selling a fake cancer drug.

The accused are Arebamen Abibu Obadan, 35, Joseph Nnamdi Emeanuwa, 32, both residents of Lagos, Nigeria, Revathi alias Sumrit Kumari Muralidharan and her husband Muralidharan Jayasheelan from Peddamma Layout, Subbannapalya.

CCB police said the accused approached the senior citizen saying they had herbal medication for cancer from Nigeria.

The accused contacted 70-year-old V Kamalanathan, a resident of Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, by email and convinced him into believing that the herbal medication could be exported to the UK and he could earn returns thrice the investment.

After Kamalanathan met them in Bangalore and paid them an advance of Rs 11.90 lakh, the quartet handed him a consignment of the herbal medicine, which they called as “Majapoga herbal roots”.

However, the accused gave Kamalanathan wooden pieces softened by dipping in water and coloured with hair dye.

“After going back to Dharmapuri, Kamalanathan checked with his acquaintances and realized that what was passed off to him as medicine was actually diced wood. The senior citizen discovered he was duped and tried to contact the accused, but in vain. Later, he filed a complaint with us,” CCB police said.

“The two Nigerians had come to the city on students’ visa and it had expired,” CCB police added. -Times of India