Man dupes cancer patient N4m

An acclaimed Indian-trained dentist, who allegedly duped a family friend, a cancer patient of about N4 million, has been arrested by the police.

The 38-year-old suspect, Charles Nze, was, on Thursday, paraded alongside other criminals arrested in the state by the state police boss, Fatai Owoseni.

The police boss urged residents of the state to be careful of the people they related with, while advising that they should always go to registered medical centres and experts for consultation.

Nze, who claimed to have been trained as a dentist at the Calcutta State University in India, reportedly collected the money under the guise of helping the patient to get drugs.

The suspect, while speaking with Lagos Metro said: “The cancer patient is a family friend. I decided to assist by bringing the patient from another hospital treating her as an outpatient.”

The suspect continued: “When I commenced treatment on the patient, she was getting better. But, suddenly, the family discovered I was a dentist and said I over-charged them.”

“After they discovered that I am a dentist, they requested that I refund them N2 million out of the money they gave me for the treatment,” he added.

The suspect also added that, “when I could not return the N2 million, the matter was reported to the military police at Obalende.”

Nze also insisted that the patient was getting better within just three weeks of attending to the patient.

He claimed that “Before I started treating, she was weighing 33 kilogrammes and could not walk, but now she can walk and now weigh 47kg.”

The family member of the victim, however, stated that Nze never told them that he was a dentist and that he lied to them that he was a medical doctor.

A family member, who pleaded anonymity, while speaking with Lagos Metro, said “When we first met, he said he was an Oncologist at 9, Brigade at Maryland and that he studied in India and London, but then my sister had been sick for some years. He promised to come and see her.”

The family member continued that “When he eventually came, after diagnosing her, he told us she had gastric cancer and billed us N270,000 for drugs.”

“When he came back, he brought some pain killers and gave them to my sister. After 30 minutes, my sister that was crying that she could not walk started walking.

“That was what impressed us that he was actually a genuine doctor. He told us that we needed to be fast about the treatment; since she might die anytime, that was how he billed us another $10,000,” said the family member.

The police boss stated that the arrested suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.