In winter 2021, the Special Cell of Delhi Police was investigating a case of cryptocurrency theft of about Rs 4 crore from the wallet of a businessman from West Delhi. It seemed difficult for the police to track the end users. At this time, Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, communicated to their Indian counterparts as part of routine intelligence exchange, information about some suspect wallets that were operated by terrorist groups for terror funding.
The search proved conclusive when the Special Cell’s Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Ops (IFSO) unit discovered that several wallets to which cryptocurrency had been transferred from Delhi belonged to the cyber terrorism wing of Hamas. In response to the terror attack on Saturday, Israeli authorities froze a number of cryptocurrency accounts held by Hamas for fundraising.
The case was first reported in 2019 at Paschim Vihar police station and later transferred to the Special Cell on court orders. The investigation revealed that one of the seized wallets belonged to Naseer Ibrahim Abdulla in Gaza and to Hamas operatives Ahmed Marzooq in Giza and Ahmed QH Safi in Ramallah in Palestine. Special Cell officers said that the details of the probe were communicated to the relevant authorities at the time. It was the first instance of Hamas activity in India.
