Nigerian man arrested in India for possession of fake British Passport

Amadi Victor Blaze

Police in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, on Saturday, August 11, arrested a 43-year-old Nigerian national for allegedly possessing a forged passport and attempting to cheat a builder by passing himself off as a business tycoon of Africa.

The accused was identified as Amadi Victor Blaze, a resident of Abo Uzoagba. Police said Blaze had been staying in the Mira Road area of Mumbai for the past 11 years.

Blaze's illegal stay in the country came to the fore after sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) here detained him at Bhubaneswar railway station on Friday evening on the suspicion that he was dealing in drugs.

"We received intelligence that the foreigner was carrying cocaine. We took him to our office and questioned him. We did not find any drugs on him, but we realized that he possessed a fake passport. Later, we handed him over to police," an NCB officer said.

Chandrasekharpur police interrogated Blaze and learnt that he came to Bhubaneswar to cheat a Puri builder.

Quoting Blaze, police said he had befriended the builder on social media under false pretences. While chatting online, Blaze had evinced an interest in starting a real estate business in the state.

He told the builder that he would send his personal assistant to Bhubaneswar for a meeting on Saturday," said DCP Anup Kumar Sahoo.

"Blaze came here to meet the builder and cheat him of money. We foiled his plan. During inquiry, we came to know that he has been staying in Mumbai illegally for the past 11 years," Sahoo added.

The commissionerate police has contacted the Nigerian embassy in Delhi about Blaze.
Police have booked him under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 467 (forgery of valuable security and will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the IPC.

He has also been booked for violation of the Passport Act, 1967, and the Foreigners' Act, 1946.