Probe Reveals Hamas-linked al-Qassam Brigades Was Behind Massive Cryptocurrency Theft In Delhi

A Delhi Police investigation into a case of cryptocurrency theft has revealed the involvement of al-Qassam Brigades, the militant wing of the Palestinian group Hamas.

The complaint was filed by a Delhi-based businessman in Paschim Vihar Police Station alleging that some unknown persons had fraudulently transferred cryptocurrency including Bitcoins, Etherum and Bitcoin cash -totaling a value of worth about Rs 30 lakh -from his cryptocurrency wallet.

Reuters

The current value of the 6.7 Bitcoins, 9.79 Ethereum and 2.44 bitcoin that was stolen is around Rs 4 crore.

The cryptocurrencies were transferred to three different accounts by the hackers.

Initially, a case was registered at Paschim Vihar Police Sation, on the orders of the Court but subsequently, the investigation was transferred to Cyber Crime Unit, Special Cell, Delhi.

During the course of the investigation, it came to light that the cryptocurrencies were transferred through several accountants and ended up in digital wallets of Al-Qassam Brigates, and into the wallets which have already been seized by Israel's Defence Ministry's National Bureau for Counter Financing.

The seized wallet belongs to one Mohammad Naseer Ibrahim Abdulla.

AFP

"Other wallets in which a major share of cryptocurrencies have been transferred are being operated from Giza in Egypt. One such wallet belongs to Ahmed Marzooq who is a resident of Giza. Another wallet, in which cryptocurrencies have been transferred belongs to Ahmed QH Safi who is a resident of Ramallah in the Palestinian city," the police said.

According to the Delhi Police, the details of the victim's crypto wallet and other accounts were uploaded on the Darknet.

Hackers had used these details to gain access to the victim's wallet and transferred them into three different accounts without his consent and knowledge.

The transfer trail also revealed that while the majority of the cryptocurrency was used for terror financing, some was also transferred to a UK-based gambling site and a child pornography site.

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Hamas, which is declared a terrorist organization has been using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.

While this is the first such incident in India, the Delhi Police team led by DCP KPS Malhotra is also looking into other crypto wallet thefts.

Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for global cooperation to tackle the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies.

Speaking virtually at the 2022 World Economic Forum's annual Davos conference, Modi said "Cryptocurrency is an example of the kind of challenges we are facing as a global family with a changing global order. To fight this, every nation, every global agency needs to have collective and synchronized action."

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