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Suspected Bin Laden Aides Held in India
NEW DELHI, June 16 (News Agencies) - An Indian court Saturday ordered two suspects, who had allegedly conspired with the Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden to blow up the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, be kept in jail till June 26, a senior police official said.
The two suspects, Abdel Raouf Hawash from Sudan, and his Indian associate, Shamin Sarvar, were arrested Friday "with six kilograms (13.2 pounds) of RDX (research developed explosives)," the police official told the French wire service AFP.
Hawash and Sarvar have been remanded into police custody while further investigations are carried out, the official added.
"Hawash was under surveillance for approximately three months and the arrest was a joint operation by the Delhi police and intelligence agencies," the official said.
"During questioning, he told U.S. he was associated with Osama bin Laden," the official added.
U.S. diplomats were unavailable for comment Saturday.
According to the police, Hawash set up a base in New Delhi five months ago.
At the time of his arrest, Hawash and an associate Shamin Sarvar, an Indian national from the eastern state of Bihar, were on the look out for a suitable vehicle to execute a car bomb explosion, the official said.
"The conspiracy was at its initial stages, with the suspects going about acquiring the logistics required," he said.
Hawash, who arrived in India eight years ago, was reported to have said he was "recruited" into bin Laden's group by a "conduit" of the nonconformist Saudi billionaire.
"Hawash told U.S. that he was recruited by Abdul Rehman al Safani, who is a Yemeni national after his arrival here. But this is subject to verification," the official said.
"The amount of money which Hawash admitted to taking -- 500,000 rupees (10,638 dollars) -- seems to confirm that he is connected to a big terrorist ring," the police official added.
Investigations into the case were continuing and security around the U.S. embassy was being beefed up, the official said.
The exiled Saudi fugitive, Osama bin Laden, is on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's ten-most-wanted list for his alleged role in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in 1998, in which more than 220 people were killed.
He is believed to have been living in Afghanistan since 1996.
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