US GoPro shipped to China traced to Lashkar terrorists, NIA ascertaining supply chain: Officials

Pahalgam: 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.

In a bid to uncover the device's origin, the NIA officially reached out to the United States 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.

As many as 26 people, mainly tourists, were gunned down by terrorists in Baisaran meadows in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, prompting the government to launch Operation Sindoor in which terror outfits based in Pakistan-controlled territories were targeted, including the main camps of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The three terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack were killed during an encounter with the special forces of the army in the Dachigam forests.

At least two AK-47 rifles recovered from the attack site in Baisaran, as well as one from Dachigam forests on the outskirts of Srinagar, had their origin in China.

The three terrorists were believed to have escaped from the Baisaran meadows through the Pahalgam jungles and possibly left using some vehicle as they had a window of nearly 40 minutes before the security forces could even understand the magnitude of the attack.

The officials, who did the preliminary investigation, said one vehicle bearing a Shopian registration number was seen on the road leading out of Pahalgam, but it could not be seen anywhere thereafter as some of the CCTVs on the roads were malfunctioning.

The investigators are still ascertaining whether some more people were involved in the massacre.

The NIA has filed a chargesheet against the Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit and six people, including the three slain terrorists identified as Faisal Jatt alias Suleman, Habeeb Tahir alias Chottu and Hamza Afghani.

The NIA has also filed a chargesheet against the self-styled "commander" of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sajid Jatt alias Sajid Jutt.

Bashir Ahmad Jothatd and Parvaiz Ahmad were the two locals named in the chargesheet as they had provided food and shelter for five hours a day before the attack.

Besides feeding them, the terrorists were provided 'Haldi' (turmeric), 'mirchi' (red chillies) and salt in a polythene bag, along with a cooking utensil, blankets and a tarpaulin.

Later, the blanket was recovered from the encounter site in Dachigam. A hair strand found in the blanket conclusively established through a DNA test that it was the same blanket taken from Bashir's home on April 21.