Pakistan probes mystery of US Marines' steel boxes in Marriott

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=1c4b3920-7d18-4be1-8b25-efa63409b79d&&Headline=Pak+probes+mystery+of+US+Marines'+steel+boxes+&strParent=strParentID

Pakistani authorities are trying to "solve the riddle" of US Marines and their mysterious steel cases that were shifted to the Marriott Hotel four days before it was razed in the worst terrorist attack in the federal capital, a media report on Tuesday said.

"The authorities want to ascertain if it was a routine exercise or part of some special mission that does not have the approval of the government of Pakistan," The News said.

The US embassy insists the activity witnessed was a team of support personnel that often and routinely precede and/or accompany certain US officials.

According to an official source, the authorities were told that mysterious activity of the US Marines took place around midnight on Sep 16.

"Already, the government has got information that several rooms on the fourth floor of the Marriott were in permanent use of the US authorities. Three of these rooms were said to be inter-connected and contained some intelligence equipment and other material allegedly used for espionage," the newspaper said.

Marriott owner Sadruddin Hashwani denied that the Americans had any such presence in the hotel and said that like at any such hotel in the world, his guests included people of different nationalities.

"Why focus on the Americans unnecessarily?" he wondered, flatly denying that the US embassy had permanently hired several rooms in the hotel.

US embassy spokesperson Lou Fintor said in a written reply in response to a query on the Marines: "A team of support personnel often and routinely precede and/or accompany certain US government officials.

"They often carry communication and office equipment required to support large delegations, such as high-level administration officials and members of the US Congress."

He added that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, who was in Pakistan last week, would travel with communications equipment.

[leftchick]

1. K&MR ?

:shrug:

[malaise]

2. Check the old thread

we added quite a few links