The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has revealed that the 2019 Pulwama attack and the 2022 Gorakhnath Temple attack were funded through online payment services while explosives were procured through e-commerce sites.
The global terror financing watchdog, in it 'Comprehensive Update on Terrorist Financing Risks', made revelations about state-sponsored terrorism without mentioning Pakistan by name. It pointed out that national governments were found giving financial support to specific terrorist organisations. Besides direct financial aid, the terror groups are also given logistical support, material resources and training provisions.
The revelation comes at a time when India has been urging world countries to take action against Pakistan for funding terrorists.
FATF, citing a case study from India, revealed how terrorists procured aluminium powder, which is used for making IED bombs, through Amazon. The use of aluminium powder increases the impact of the blast. The report also detailed that online marketplaces are used to acquire weapons, equipment, chemicals and 3D printing materials.
In the Gorakhnath Temple attack on April 3, 2022, an ISIS terrorist was arrested for attacking security personnel. FATF said the attacker used VPN to hide his IP address and transferred ₹669,841 via PayPal to ISIS terrorists abroad, including 44 international third-party transactions. He also received ₹10,324 from abroad. The account was suspended by PayPal over suspicion of illicit fund transfer.
“As the offer of online payment services from Fintech companies grew substantially over the last 10 years, cases of terrorists opting for those services can be observed across all contexts,” the FATF stated.
The regulator also revealed that terror group also sell books, clothes etc. through peer-to-peer payment services to raise funds.
In June, the FATF condemned the deadly Pahalgam attack that killed 26 innocent people on April 22, saying the incident could not have occurred without the terrorists getting funded. In May, India had briefed the watchdog about the evidence regarding the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps in Pakistan destroyed during Operation Sindoor.
If FATF finds that Islamabad is involved in funding terror groups, it could put the country in Grey List and implement economic sanctions on the country. Pakistan was in the Grey List thrice before with the first time being from 2008 to 2009. Later it was included in the list from 2012 to 2015 and from 2018 to 2022.
