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Viewing cable 03KATHMANDU1643, NEPAL: PAKISTAN EMBASSY EMPLOYEE CAUGHT WITH

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
03KATHMANDU1643 2003-08-27 12:37 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Kathmandu
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001643 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SA AND SA/INS 
LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY 
BANGKOK FOR SECRET SERVICE 
NSC FOR MILLARD 
TREASURY FOR COUNTERFEIT DIVISION 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2013 
TAGS: PREL PINR ECON ETTC KCRM IN PK NP XD
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  PAKISTAN EMBASSY EMPLOYEE CAUGHT WITH 
COUNTERFEIT INDIAN RUPEES 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert K. Boggs for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
Summary 
======== 
 
1.  (SBU) On August 19, Nepalese Police arrested an 
administrative staff member of the Pakistani Embassy, 
allegedly carrying counterfeit Indian currency.  The staff 
member was released into the Pakistani Ambassador's custody 
and deported over the weekend.  The Pakistani Embassy denies 
all the charges and alleges that this was an Indian 
Government setup.  This is the fourth incident in the past 
five years involving Pakistani Embassy personnel with 
counterfeit currency or explosives.  The Indian Ambassador 
has requested the Government of Nepal (GoN) to reduce the 
size of the Pakistani mission here.  Continuing security 
concerns involving Pakistani nationals and embassy have led 
the GoN to conclude that it should not reestablish civil air 
links with Pakistan.  End summary. 
 
Caught Red-Handed 
================== 
 
2.  (U) On August 19, Nepalese Police arrested Mohammed 
Masood (a.k.a. Mustafa), an Upper Division Clerk of the 
Pakistani Embassy, at a restaurant in Kathmandu.  He is part 
of the Embassy's administrative staff and an official 
passport holder.  Masood reportedly was found to hold 90 
counterfeit Indian Rupee 500 notes (a total of Indian Rupees 
45,000, roughly USD 990).  After over seven hours of 
questioning, Masood was handed into the custody of the 
Pakistani Ambassador at 3 am the next morning, with the 
reported understanding that he would leave the country. 
Masood stated to the local press that he was framed and that 
the counterfeit currency was planted on him by the Police. 
The Embassy's press secretary, Kamal Ahmed, issued a 
statement denying the allegation that Embassy staff possessed 
counterfeit currency.  Ahmed counter-charged that the arrest 
was a result of "opposition forces."  (Comment:  Ahmed's 
statement was intended to refer to the Government of India. 
End comment.)  He also claimed that the arrest was intended 
to divert attention from the arrest of two Indian businessmen 
who had been caught earlier for illegal currency exports. 
 
3.  (C) The Nepalese police confirmed to Embassy officers 
Masood's arrest for possession of counterfeit currency.  The 
Police had established that at least ten of the ninety 500 
Indian Rupee notes were counterfeit.  While Masood has been 
released, the Police report that their investigation 
continues.  Masood was deported over the weekend. 
 
Pakistani Ambassador Refutes Charges 
===================================== 
 
4.  (SBU) Pakistani Ambassador Zamir Akram reported to the 
DCM on August 22 that the press had the case all wrong. 
According to Akram, Masood was shopping in the New Baneshwor 
area of Kathmandu when he was confronted by Police.  The 
Police led him into a restaurant where they searched him, 
finding nothing.  Akram states that the Police then planted 
an envelope of cash on Masood and took him to Kathmandu's 
central jail.  Akram expressed his frustration at not being 
called by the Nepalese Police and only receiving a report of 
his disappearance from Masood's wife.  Akram went to the 
jail, where the Police officials denied that Masood was in 
their custody.  After a call to Nepalese Foreign Secretary 
Madhu Raman Acharya, Masood was finally led out of the jail 
and placed into Akram's custody.  When the DCM asked where 
the case stood, Akram said his understanding from talking 
with the GoN's Foreign Ministry was that the case was closed. 
 In his opinion, "our friends to the south" (a.k.a. India) 
had set up up Masood using the Nepalese Police. 
 
Indian Ambassador Requests Pakistan Reduce Presence 
============================================= ======= 
 
5.  (U) At a press conference on August 26, Indian Ambassador 
Shyam Saran requested the GoN to reduce the size of the 
Pakistani Embassy, alleging that the Embassy housed Pakistani 
intelligence officers.  Saran argued that Pakistani 
representation in Kathmandu should be at par with Nepalese 
representation in Islamabad.  During the question and answer 
period, an astute reporter asked if Indian representation in 
Kathmandu would also be reduced to match Nepalese 
representation in New Delhi.  The Ambassador had no ready 
response.  Later in the day, a press statement by the 
Pakistani Embassy noted that the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu 
has a staff of 300 personnel compared to the Pakistani's 
"skeleton staff." 
 
A History of "Shenanigans" 
=========================== 
 
6.  (U) This case is the fourth such instance involving staff 
at the Pakistani Embassy in the last five years: 
 
-- On January 3, 2002, Upper Division Clerk Diraj Ahmed Siraj 
was arrested in Kathmandu with 9,200 dollars in counterfeit 
U.S. currency and 47,000 counterfeit Indian rupees 
(approximately USD 1000). 
 
-- On April 12, 2001, First Secretary (Consular) Mohd Arshad 
Cheema and his wife Rubina Cheema were arrested in Kathmandu 
with counterfeit Indian rupees and 16 kgs of RDX explosives. 
 
-- November 1998, Nepalese Police arrested Upper Division 
Clerk Asam Saboor in Kathmandu for attempting to exchange 
50,000 counterfeit Indian rupees. 
 
Nepalese Concern Limiting Commercial Air Links 
============================================= == 
 
7.  (C) Nepalese concern with the flow of illegal activity 
from Pakistan to Nepal has led the GoN to prohibit Pakistan 
International Airways (PIA) flights to and from the country. 
Director General of Civil Aviation Upendra Dhital and Joint 
Secretary for Civil Aviation Nagendra Ghimire told EconOff 
 
SIPDIS 
that PIA would not be allowed to reenter Nepal's aviation 
market due to security concerns.  The two cited the 1999 
hijacking of an Indian Air jetliner from Kathmandu's 
international airport and the continuing illegal conduct of 
Pakistani Embassy members as reasons for the decision. 
 
Comment 
======== 
 
8.  (C) We are not in a position to judge the merits of 
Masood's claims to have been "set up" by the Indians.  The 
Nepalese Chief of Army Staff told the DCM that RAW, India's 
external intelligence agency, is very active in Nepal and 
could have been involved in Masood's arrest.  He had no 
doubt, however, that Pakistan uses Nepal as a distribution 
base for currency, real and counterfeit, to Kashmir and other 
parts of India.  This incident will only reinforce the 
Government of India's repeated complaints that Pakistani 
intelligence agents use Nepalese territory to subvert Indian 
interests.  The charges and counter-charges have subsided for 
the moment, but we expect that Nepal will continue to remain 
a peripheral theater for Indo-Pak tensions. 
MALINOWSKI