This story is from July 15, 2006

Nepal police look for LeT links

Suman Pradhan / TNN / Jul 15, 2006, 03:09 IST

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Nepalese authorities are trying to ascertain if the two Pak nationals have any links either with LeT or Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai.

KATHMANDU: Nepalese authorities are trying to ascertain if the two Pakistani nationals arrested for explosive offences have any links either with LeT or Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai.
Ghulam Hussain Cheema and Atta Mohinuddin Siddiqui were among the four Pakistanis picked up by Nepal police hours after the commuter train bombings in Mumbai killed about 200 people.
After police asked for more time to pursue investigations, the Kathmandu district court remanded Hussain Cheema and Siddiqui to five-day judicial custody on Friday. The other two were freed after questioning.
Police detained Cheema and Siddiqui in connection with a five-year-old case. "They were arrested for hiding RDX in their rented room here in 2001,"superintendent of police D B Karki said.

Considering the timing of their arrest, officials said they were looking into possibilities of any relations between the duo and the Mumbai blasts. "It's too early to say if there are any links to the Mumbai bombings," Karki added.
In April 2001, police recovered 16 kg of RDX from the possession of a Pakistani diplomat, Muhammad Arshad Cheema, at a house at Shantinagar here that was rented by Cheema and Siddiqui. Following this, the diplomat, a first secretary at the Pakistani embassy, was deported to Pakistan.

At that time, Cheema ran a construction company called Sachel Engineering Works that was building a stretch of the Mugling-Pokhara Highway, about 100 km south of here.
Sources said after they returned to Kathmandu, Hussain Cheema and Siddiqui rented a room at the posh Hotel Everest, which is located close to Shantinagar, since July 7.
According to information culled from various investigative sources, TOI learned that the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu monitored Cheema and Siddiqui from July 7 itself for their suspected links with LeT.
But that vigil turned ominous on July 11 when the blasts on Mumbai trains brought the gravity of the situation home. Indian officials promptly informed the Nepal police, who arrested them on Tuesday night itself.
Police sources said no RDX was found from their room. DSP S K Oli said the duo had not confessed to LeT links during interrogations.

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