Mumbai, May 22: Investigations into the arms cache found in central Maharashtra have indicated that the initial discussions about transporting the consignment were held in Kathmandu in 2005.

The Nepal link in the consignment, which had over 43 kg of RDX and Chinese-made weapons, emerged with the arrest of a suspect in Aurangabad last week.

Identified as Akif Biyabani, 23, the suspect was detained in Aurangabad by the anti-terrorist squad on May 17 for alleged links with Zahibuddin Ansari alias Zaby, a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative said to be the mastermind of the operation.

Biyabani was brought to Mumbai over the weekend and arrested on the charge of aiding and abetting the transportation of the arms consignment. He was produced before a holiday magistrate on Sunday, and remanded in custody till May 24.

Sources in the anti-terrorism squad said Biyabani is a close associate of Ansari. Biyabani told interrogators that he had travelled to Kathmandu in early 2005 where he met two other suspects ? Fayaz and Zuber, a Pakistani national.

Police believe that Zuber had helped Ansari transport the consignment to Maharashtra, while Biyabani lent a hand in putting together the other members of the terror module. Ansari, a trained Lashkar operative, is still at large.

Biyabani, a science graduate with a computer hardware background, is the eleventh suspect to be arrested.

The joint commissioner of the anti-terrorist squad, K.P. Raghuvanshi, confirmed that the police are investigating the Nepal link.

During a seven-day operation earlier this month, the squad had seized the biggest RDX consignment in Maharashtra since the Bombay blasts of March 1993.

The RDX was hidden inside the central processing units of computers packed in 10 boxes, while grenades and other weapons (see chart) were found inside a mango crate.

Hostel probe

The Maharashtra government today ordered an inquiry into the security lapse that allowed the key suspects to stay in the MLA hostel in south Mumbai.

On May 8, the key accused, Ansari, and others checked into the hostel, barely a few metres from the Vidhan Bhavan, for four hours. Guests can be accommodated only with the written consent of MLAs.