Two Pakistanis Remanded To Judicial Custody

Kathmandu District Court today remanded two Pakistani nationals to a 5-day judicial custody on charge of possessing explosives back in Kathmandu.

Pakistani nationals Ghulam Hussain Chima and Aftab Mohiuddin Siddiqui, who were arrested from Everest Hotel at New Baneshwor on Wednesday, were presented before the court today.

Special police team from the KDPO had arrested the two Pak nationals from room 403 of the Everest Hotel on charges of possessing explosives (RDX) back in 2001. The duo had reportedly fled the country after police recovered 16 kg of RDX from their room in New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, on April 11, 2001.

District Court Judge Mohan Raman Bhattarai issued the order. Police demanded the court to remand them in judicial custody for 25 days.

The explosive was seized from their room in Kathmandu in April 2001, but both the suspects had fled arrest at that time.

It is not clear whether they were liked with the serial blasts in the Indian city of Mumbai.

Testifying before the court today, Siddhiqui said that he was the manager of the Pokhara-Marsyangdi Road Construction Project while Shina said he was the accountant of the same project. Claiming that they had nothing to do with the recovered RDX, both said they had come to Nepal to settle some pending cash transactions.

The arrest of the two Pak nationals, who allegedly deal in RDX, on the night of the serial bomb blasts in commuter trains in the Indian Metropolitan city of Mumbai may not be just a coincidence, security sources say. Police are investigating whether the arrested Pak nationals have any link with the Indian terrorist outfit, Lashkar-e-Toiba, which reportedly carried out the blasts in Mumbai.

On the same night, police had also arrested two residents of the Pak-administered Kashmir, Wasim Ali and Waled Mohammad from a hotel in Jyatha. Both were released on Wednesday morning after found innocent, police officials said.

Meanwhile, a team of security officials from India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrived in Kathmandu today to seek information about the arrested Pak nationals. The CBI team and Nepal Police officials will jointly interrogate the arrested Pak nationals, sources said.