Security personnel carry out the rescue and relief works at the site of suicide bomb attack at Lathepora Awantipora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir. (PTI file photo)

NEW DELHI: Global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has raised concerns about the exploitation of e-commerce platforms and online payment services to fund terrorist activities, citing cases from India, including the 2019 Pulwama attack, in which the Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) bought on Amazon a chemical that was added to the RDX used to kill CRPF troopers.In a report, FATF also said the lone accused in the 2022 attack on security personnel at UP’s Gorakhnath temple had transferred funds to the Islamic State using PayPal.These cases, it said, illustrated the growing trend of terrorists leveraging online platforms to facilitate their activities. On the Pulwama attack in J&K, the report said, “Investigations revealed the cross-border movement of a large quantity of explosives into India. Notably, a key component of the improvised explosive device used in the attack – aluminium powder-was procured through EPOM Amazon, an ad network. This material was used to enhance the impact of the blast.”

During its investigation, NIA had probed an accused named Waiz-ul-Islam and found that he had used his Amazon account to procure chemicals for making IEDs, batteries and other accessories on the directions of Pakistani JeM terrorists. “He personally delivered the items to JeM terrorists after procuring the incriminating material online as a part of the conspiracy to carry out the Pulwama attack,” NIA had said in its chargesheet. “Accused Sajjad Bhat had purchased a Maruti Eeco car for the purpose of carrying out the IED attack,” it added.This chargesheet, filed in a special court in Jammu, named JeM chief Moulana Masood Azhar, his two brothers Rouf Asgar and Ammar Alvi, suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar and 15 others as accused.Also read: ‘May have implications on India’s stability’: CDS warns of China-Pakistan-Bangladesh axis; watchOn the temple attack, the FATF report said, “On April 3, 2022, the accused individual attacked security personnel at Gorakhnath Temple, influenced by the Islamic State’s ideology,” the report said. As per FATF, the accused had been using a VPN for calling, chatting and downloading to evade detection, and had made 44 payments while using third-party transactions.