Nigerian Arrested in India Over Staged Abduction of American Tourist

Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro, a Nigerian residing in Haryana, a northern Indian state, has been arrested by the Indian police for his role in a staged kidnapping involving Chloe Renee McLaughlin, a female American tourist.

The Print India reported that on arrival in Delhi, India, on May 3, McLaughlin informed her family members that she was in an unsafe environment where she was being assaulted and beaten by an unidentified individual. While raising the alarm, she did not disclose her exact location.

The complaint was immediately forwarded to the American Embassy, which in turn notified the New Delhi District Police at once.

“The United States Embassy informed that a US resident, Miss Chloe Renee McLaughlin, arrived in Delhi on May 3, 2022, where she was assaulted and beaten by an unidentified individual known to her, and she is missing after reporting the incident to her family in the US,” said Amrutha Guguloth, Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi District.

“The victim has mentioned in the email that she is in an unsafe environment where she has encountered physical and emotional abuse.”

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On July 10, the supposed victim spoke to her mother via a video call on WhatsApp in a bid to further make her believe the abduction was real.

In order to ascertain where McLaughlin was being kept, the Indian Police sought help from Yahoo.com so they could be provided with the IP address she had been using to send emails to her relatives in the US.

The IP address later led the police to place a particular mobile number under surveillance. As a result, the police succeeded in arresting Okoroafor, who also went by the name Rechi. During 31-year-old Okoroafor’s interrogation, he revealed McLaughlin’s location.

When the police intensified their investigation, it was further revealed that McLaughlin had staged the abduction with Okoroafor’s help to emotionally blackmail her parents in the US.

The police also discovered that Okoroafor first befriended McLaughlin on Facebook before the American decided to travel to India as a tourist. It was during the visit that the fake abduction idea was conceived.

The Indian police said an investigation into the matter was still in progress.

FIJ