PAHALGAM, May 24:
Even as the NIA has filed a comprehensive chargesheet in the Pahalgam terror attack, investigators are aggressively tracing a global supply chain to determine how a US-manufactured GoPro camera supplied to China ended up in the hands of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit, senior officials said on Sunday.
The high-tech camera recovered from the terrorists, who were neutralised in an encounter in Dachigam forests last July following the attack, has opened a critical new line of inquiry into the external logistics network supporting terror outfits in Jammu and Kashmir.
Terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir have increasingly been using cameras to record their ambushes for propaganda and psychological warfare.
Investigators believe that unearthing this specific supply chain could expose critical vulnerabilities or complicity in the underground networks that funnel funds, hardware and tactical gear across borders to anti-India outfits.
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In a bid to uncover the device’s origin, the NIA officially reached out to the US manufacturer GoPro Inc to ascertain where the device had been sold. In its formal response, the US-based firm reported that the specific device was originally shipped to an authorised commercial distributor in China, according to officials.
The officials familiar with the developments said that the probe has now shifted focus toward tracking how the camera from the Chinese distributor landed in the hands of LeT handlers, with a likely possibility that these cameras could have been purchased by the Pakistani army and later supplied to terror groups.
India does not have a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with China and such cases are taken up through diplomatic channels.
“The chargesheet establishes the immediate operational details of the Baisaran attack, but the wider investigation remains wide open,” an official said on the condition of anonymity.
“We are actively investigating the procurement channels to ascertain how a commercial device tracking back to China was diverted to a banned terrorist organisation operating in Jammu and Kashmir,” the official said. (PTI)
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