US woman charged with 'swatting' Oldham family

A WOMAN has been charged with cyber harassment following allegations she was behind fake calls that prompted armed police to raid a family home in Oldham.

Nibah Gazi, 40, of Sullivan Court in New Jersey, is accused of cyber harassment by “continually, over the last several months, calling [and] swatting the victim through the use of the internet and other electronic devices,” court documents revealed.

‘Swatting’ refers to bogus reports designed to ensure police or SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams are called to an address.

Gazi is charged with harassing promoter Rangzib Nazir, 51, from Oldham.

When police officials first arrived at Nazir’s residence, he was forced to wake up his daughter, 18, son, 21 and parents, both in their 70s, to show the officers they had come to no harm.

Police officials were investigating accusations of abuse.

A week later, armed police visited his property a second time and they were once again investigating a series of false online allegations that said Nazir abused his children.

Another victim, Rizwan Mahmood, a DJ also known as Rzi Riz, said police officials smashed down the front door of his home in Thorncomb Road, Moss Side, on September 20 following a false claim that a child was being harmed inside the property.

Bollywood entrepreneur Sangeetha Singh, 55, and her dancer daughters Aashan and Sonalia Kaur, both 22, also say they were victims of abuse.

Her daughters were called prostitutes and Sangeetha, who has suffered a miscarriage in the past, was phoned by a troll who posed as her unborn baby and said: “Why mommy, why you kill me?”

A GMP spokesperson confirmed officers from Oldham had been investigating a number of hoax calls over the past 12 months that are believed to have been made by one individual from the USA.

Gazi has denied all the accusations.