According to the cops, Mira Road provides the fraudsters perfect camouflage. A fast-growing suburb, it affords them the anonymity they desperately need and the inexpensive one-room rented flats that go for as little as Rs 3,000 a month. The email gang members live at Moti Nagar, a nondescript neighbourhood with the colourful sobriquet ‘Nigerianwadi’ — a name that was coined by policemen who, on several occasions, were roughed up here while trying to pick up a suspect in a scam or a drug case.
TOI visited Nigerianwadi on Thursday and found the seven-storey illegal building once peopled with Nigerians almost abandoned. Locals say that about two months ago, the area’s Shiv Sena shakha pramukh, Sanjay Sawant, and his aides forcibly evicted the Nigerians because of "complaints of them causing a nuisance". "There were stray instances of them passing lewd remarks at girls. We literally stormed in. We had no plans to attack them. But it so happened that it resulted in a fight. They had converted the terrace into a huge garden which became a partying place in the night," Sawant said.
Sawant’s action resulted in a number of Nigerians moving out to other areas, including Nalasopara. But some of them stayed back after managing to get accommodation in nearby housing societies. The two internet parlours near Nigerianwadi, as a result, are still doing reasonable business.
One of the cyber cafe owners bemoaned the fact that many of her Nigerian clients were forced out. "They are the only source of income. Why do you target them?" she asked, as some Nigerians typed away on the parlour’s computers.
The other internet parlour owner told TOI: "I get at least Rs 100 from each of these guys compared to the paltry Rs 10 the others pay. They sit here from morning to night." He, however, pleaded ignorance when asked about the Nigerians’ activities. "They must be chatting with their parents or friends."
Locals recalled violent fights at Moti Nagar, including one in which a Nigerian hit another with a beer bottle. Sawant said the police scarcely acted on the locals’ complaints since they were "taken care of".
Some policemen admitted they were scared to detain Nigerian suspects from the locality. "There were times when we lured them as recipients of Nigerian scam mails and arrested them when they came out of the area. They are physically strong and go to any length to resist us," said a police officer.
Economic Offences Wing chief Sanjay Saxena told TOI that he had only heard about fraud mails originating from Mira Road. "It is worth doing a detailed study on these groups and their modus operandi," he said.
That might happen soon. Superintendent of police (Thane rural) Vishwas Nagre Patil said they were planning a drive against the fraudsters. "Some of them have shifted to Nalasopara. They are into these scams and also supply of drugs. They tear up their passports to hide their identity. We had suggested that the government set up a detention centre for foreigners staying illegally. But this has not taken off," he said.
The police said that the Nigerians pretended not to know English during questioning. "This makes our job difficult. They come here as students, destroy their passports, and the second time they are arrested they give a different name. They create a ruckus and demand non-vegetarian food while in custody," a police officer said.
Patil added, "At a meeting in Pune, these Nigerians spoke openly about how easy it was to fool us by sending such fraud mails. Our informers were present in the meeting. There are some innocent people, however, who make a living carrying out businesses."
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