In a first, digital evidence nails Pakistan’s terror-funding trail via Bitcoin trade in J&K

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The Jammu and Kashmir Government's newly created State Investigation Agency (SIA), claims to have cracked for the first time ever, a terror-funding trail from Pakistan that has been operating through Bitcoin trade in the Union Territory.</p>
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Seven persons have been arrested and electronic evidence of their involvement in the cross-border terror-related Bitcoin trade has been seized from them in a series of raids in three districts on Wednesday.</p>
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The network's Pakistani mastermind has been identified but his antecedents were being kept confidential as it could hamper the investigation, the official spokesman said.</p>
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“Houses of suspects in Mendhar Poonch, Baramulla and Kupwara were searched in connection with the investigation of case registered in a counter intelligence police station in Srinagar,” an official spokesman said.</p>
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The case, according to the police spokesman, pertains to financing militancy via Bitcoin trade.</p>
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“Details that are being investigated into at the initial stage include a mastermind in Pakistan who with active support of Pakistani intelligence agencies and in connivance with militant organizations based in Pakistan has been pumping slush money to their agents in J&K for further distribution among militant organisations, secessionists for fuelling mass violence and militant activities in J&K", the spokesman said.</p>
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Preliminary investigation revealed evidence of the "the dirty money" having originated from Pakistan had reached the persons whose houses were searched.</p>
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According to the Police spokesman, the transfer of money had been layered to prevent backward tracing of its origin. “While several accounts-in-the-middle that have been used to layer the money are outside J&K, the effective whitewashing of the Pakistani money has taken place through exploitation of loopholes in the international Bitcoin trade," he said.</p>
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During today's searches, incriminating material believed to be hidden in digital devices, SIM cards, mobile phones and other documents, having a bearing on the investigation, has been recovered and seized.</p>
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“Analysis of the data and questioning of the suspects would follow, and the leads that would emerge, would become the basis of further investigation,” the spokesman said.</p>