Two Nigerian men believed to be the masterminds behind the 419 fraud scam appeared in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Monday.
Frances Ibe and Jude Nugoogu of Hillbrow were believed to have been involved in defrauding a British national of at least R1,5-million.
The men were arrested on Saturday at a Roodepoort hotel during a police sting involving both South African policemen and detectives from Scotland Yard.
Further investigations led the police to a rented house in Rivonia where they confiscated over 200 envelopes addressed to different businessmen and women in different parts of the world.
Six South African and Nigerian passports, as well as three international telephone directories were also confiscated during the raid.
The British detectives arrived in South Africa on Friday after confiscating scam letters in London that had originated in Johannesburg.
Police said the two suspects could be linked to many of the other 419-scams in which many people had lost vast sums of money.
The case was postponed to June 4, when the men’s legal representative would be available to arrange a date for bail. – Sapa