In what could be the country's first instance of cryptocurrency being used to fund terror activities, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a charge sheet has claimed that ISIS operatives used bitcoin to carry out attacks inside India, according to a report by the Hindustan Times.
According to the report, Jahanzaib Sami, an IS operative, had arranged a bitcoin wallet through a British contact, on which he asked associates to deposit funds.
Sami and his wife were arrested on March 8 for planning to carry out attacks in India. According to the charge sheet, the duo had acquired the bitcoin address on Threeema from an account belonging to a British woman based in Syria.
Sami had also gotten in touch with a Libya-based IS operative to discuss arranging funds through blockchain.
The charge sheet claimed that Sami planned to carry out 100 bombings in a single day.
The two also discussed arranging funds through stolen credit cards to acquire weapons, according to the charge sheet.
The charge sheet also alleged that Abdullah Basith, a key IS member lodged in Tihar was using smartphones inside the prison to interact with Sami and several overseas ISIS commanders.
(Published 23 October 2020, 05:08 IST)
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