By Sudeshna Sarkar, Kathmandu, July 13 (IANS) Within hours of the terror blasts in India's business capital Mumbai, Nepal police here arrested four Pakistanis who, according to initial reports, could be the same men arrested five years ago with deadly explosives.

Though there was no official word from the government, there is speculation that there could be a link between the arrests and the seven explosions in local trains and a subway in Mumbai Tuesday in which nearly 200 people were killed.

Ghulam Hussain, also known as Cheema, and Aftab Mahaddin Siddiqui apparently ran the four-member gang while the other two, yet to be named by police, were underlings.

Hussain could be the same man involved in a diplomatic scandal in April 2001, involving a first secretary at the Pakistani Embassy here, Mohammad Arshad Cheema.

The diplomat was arrested from the office-cum-residence of a Pakistani engineering firm in Kathmandu, Sachel Engineering Works (Private) Limited, registered in the name of Ghulam Hussain.

Nepal's media Thursday said both Hussain and Siddiqui had fled Nepal in 2001 but the report could not be immediately confirmed.

Nepal police remained tight-lipped about the arrests.

Though the four Pakistanis were reportedly arrested Tuesday from two different parts of the capital, their arrest came to light Thursday morning when a local publication, Kathmandu Today, reported it.

Hussain and Siddiqui had checked into the capital's upmarket Everest Hotel July 8 and checked out July 11.

"They paid their bills and we had no reason to suspect there was anything untoward about them," the hotel told IANS.

The other two men reportedly stayed in a cheaper hotel in Thamel, Kathmandu's tourist hub.

Meanwhile, senior security officials of Nepal and India are holding a two-day meeting here beginning Monday.