RAKESH SOOD IN DELHI

Kathmandu, 13 Dec.: Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood flew for New Delhi for a regular meeting, Tarun reports.
He’s attending a meeting of the BP Koirala India-Nepal Foundation.
(Note: He flew for the Indian capital after reports he’s being recalled before his tenure expires. The leaked repot in the Indian media will make it difficult for him to operate effectively.)
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BANGLADESH STRAIN CHOLERA IN HAITI
Kathmandu, 13 Dec.: A team of researchers from the Harvard Medical School has determined that the strain of cholera erupting in Haiti matches bacterial samples from South Asia, particularly with the strain recorded in Bangladesh in 2002 and 2008, The Kathmandu Post reports.

The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday has concluded that the bacteria introduced in Haiti most likely come from an infected human, contaminated food or other items from outside Latin America. The study doesn’t prove the claim made by French cholera expert Renaud Piarroux, whose team last week concluded that the outbreak originated from a UN base at Mirebalis on Artibonite River in central Haiti that houses Nepali peacekeepers.

“Because the disease broke out in Haiti very close to the time and place of the arrival of UN peacekeeping troops from South Asia, speculation surged that it may have been introduced by these troops. This possibility has spawned deadly riots in Haiti against the UN peacekeepers. But, the researchers caution that determining the actual source of the Haitian cholera strain will require further epidemiological investigation,” stated the report prepared by a team of scientists led by Prof. Matthew Waldor.

The scientists used a third generation, single-molecule DNA sequencing method to identify the probable origin of the cholera strain and determined the genome sequences of two Haitian cholera samples and three samples from elsewhere. For the paper, they compared DNA of cholera bacteria from patients from Haiti with samples from Peru and Bangladesh. “The analysis showed a close relationship between the Haitian samples and the seventh pandemic variant strains isolated in Bangladesh in 2002 and 2008,” stated the paper posted on the webpage of Harvard Medical School. The new study has stressed that it is important to try to keep Haiti’s cholera from spreading elsewhere as evidence suggests that if the Haitian strain reaches Latin America, it might replace the local strains and cause a more severe and lethal disease in that region.

The Nepal Army last week had condemned the French study that claimed Nepali peacekeepers were the source of the cholera in Haiti. On Thursday, the United Nations had said there was no conclusive evidence to hold Nepali peacekeepers responsible for the outbreak.
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MOST WANTED NABBED

Kathmandu, 13 Dec.: The Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police on Saturday nabbed Nepal’s most dreaded kingpin of the Black Spider Group involved in dozens of high-profile extortion and abduction cases, Baburam Kharel reports in The Kathmandu Post..
The five-year-long manhunt ended Saturday when a special squad pressed into action by the CIB rounded up Sandeep Pathak alias Milan Lama as he was entering Nepal through the Nepal-India border via Mahendra Nagar.
Lama was on the most wanted list of Nepal Police. An Interpol arrest warrant had also been
issued against him. Confirming Lama’s arrest, CIB incharge and Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajendra Singh Bhandari said the CIB team arrested him in Mahendranagar. “His arrest is the biggest breakthrough in the police’s bid to crack down on Nepal’s organised crime as he is regarded the most professional organised criminal,” said DIG Bhandari. “He will be brought to Kathmandu in a few days.” Sleuths said that Lama is considered the architect of organised crime in Nepal.
He had been on the run ever since he was implicated in an attempt to murder Dr. Hemang Dixit in 2006 for not paying hefty ransom, apart from involvement in dozens of high-profile abduction and extortion cases.
Lama was arrested in India in 2007 for illegal possession of arms, but was subsequently released without him being handed over to Nepal Police. Lama is said to be addicted to gambling and was a regular visitor to casinos in Nepal. It was because of his gambling habit that he took to crime. Lama formed a five-member gang in 2002.
Earlier in 2000, he went to Singapore where he took admission in a food and beverage course. He discontinued his studies and returned to Kathmandu where he opened an apparel store, but it ran into loss. He formed his gang with schoolmates Sudhir Thapa, Ganesh Karki, Akash, Ganesh Lama and Santosh. They started threatening affluent doctors and businessmen, seeking hefty amounts as extortion. He told the police that his gang derived its name from the Hollywood movie ‘Spiderman’ and wanted to spread its activities all over the world.
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