3 Iranians accused of cheating foreigners held after scuffle with cops

› The suspects were in a Toyota Corolla Altis car. They tried to speed away when our team tried to catch them. The policemen surrounded the car and hit their car with a baton, forcing them to stop. VIJAY KUMAR, deputy commissioner of police (south)

Three Iranian nationals were arrested on Friday evening after a brief scuffle with police personnel outside a diagnostic centre in south Delhi’s Greater Kailash Part-1. The men were nabbed for allegedly duping foreign nationals by posing as policemen, the police said.

Police said they have recovered thousands of currency notes of eight countries, including those of USA, Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia.

A Delhi Police head constable disguised himself as an Afghan national to trap the suspects, who in the last few months had cheated almost half a dozen citizens of Afghanistan and other countries.

The head constable signalled the raiding team as soon as the suspects approached him and sought his wallet to check his identification documents by posing as a policeman.

“The suspects were in a Toyota Corolla Altis car. They tried to speed away when our raiding team members tried to catch them. The policemen surrounded the car and hit their car with their batons, damaging the car’s window and forcing them to stop,” said Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (south), said.

The arrested Iranian nationals were identified as Noor Mohamdi, 28, Reza Kohan Khaki, 30, and Farhad Abasisaor, 31. Police said they have seized the passports and visas of all the arrested men.

“We are interrogating them to know for how long they were in India and for what purpose they were here. Their involvement in at least six cases has been confirmed as of now,” added the DCP. Police said the suspects were being questioned for their connections to cheating complaints received at the Lajpat Nagar and Greater Kailash police stations from Afghan nationals.