New Delhi, January 2 (IANS): Delhi police have arrested two Nigerian nationals for allegedly hacking the WhatsApp mobile app of a senior official in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, an official in Delhi said on Sunday.

The defendants, identified as Okoye Simeon, 39, and Ugo Chukwu, 35, both currently residing in Uttam Nagar, Delhi, were arrested under Articles 170, 420 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code.

Providing details of the case, Deputy Police Commissioner (New Delhi District) Deepak Yadav said a complaint was lodged by a senior ministry official saying that strangers had hacked into his whatAapp account and made themselves pass for him using his profile picture.

The ministry official further alleged that hackers also demanded money from many people on his contact list indicating an urgent need for drugs under which one of them transferred a sum of 75,000. rupees to hackers. Based on the complaint, a police team was assembled to arrest the offenders.

“With the help of technical surveillance, the location of the hackers was located in the Uttam Nagar area of ​​Delhi. It was also discovered that a group of Nigerians were involved in this type of crime,” said DCP Yadav.

Subsequently, a raid was carried out at the location traced and two accused were arrested.

During sustained questioning, it was revealed that Okoye Simeon was the backbone of this racquet. Previously he was doing frauds using Facebook and recently he started hacking WhatsApp. He revealed that his friends had arranged fake accounts to receive the cheated amount, police said.

Police recovered four cell phones, two laptops, an expired passport and SIM cards used in the commission of the offense.