Phone seized from Pahalgam attackers linked to Karachi-based bank
What's the story
The investigation into the 2025 Pahalgam attack has revealed that one of the two cellphones used by the terrorists was imported into Pakistan in 2021. The consignment was financed by a Karachi-based bank, which had come under scrutiny in terror investigations in the past, The Indian Express reported. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Jammu and Kashmir Police found the phones, Xiaomi's RedMi 9T and Note 12, on three attackers after they were killed in an encounter in July 2025.
Phone origin
Phone imported by Tech Sirat Pvt Ltd
The RedMi 9T was imported by Tech Sirat Pvt Ltd, a Pakistan-based company, which has its office on Clifton Road in Karachi, sources told the Indian Express. The consignment was delivered on January 1, 2021, with 'Faysal Bank' listed as the logistics company. The delivery address was recorded as "St/02, Faysal House, Main Branch, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi, Pakistan." This address belongs to Faysal Bank Ltd., a prominent Islamic bank in Pakistan.
Bank
Phone was never switched on until Pahalgam attack
"The consignment must have been received by Tech Sirat, but documents show delivery to the bank since it has financed it. The phone...appears to have been smuggled out of this consignment and found its way to the LeT. "Since the import in 2021, the phone was never switched on until the Pahalgam attack. It appears...it was whisked away from the consignment for...the purpose of being handed over to a terrorist," an officer with knowledge of the investigation details said.
Past allegations
Bank's past links with terror groups
In 2007, The New York Times reported that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Lajnat al-Dawa, a Kuwait-based foundation that has links to Al-Qaeda, had maintained accounts at Faysal Bank. Per the report, this information was revealed in lawsuits brought into the courts after the 9/11 attacks. The lawyer of the bank's holding company denied links with terror organizations, stating "the accounts were frozen as soon as the clients had been either put on a designated list or banned in Pakistan."
Additional findings
Second phone was imported by Air Link Communications
The second phone, a RedMi Note 12, was imported by Air Link Communications Ltd. in Lahore. Like the first phone, it remained switched off until the Pahalgam attack. Investigators, however, couldn't retrieve communication data from these phones as terrorists used long-range radio communication technology for secure communication. But photographs and maps were recovered from both devices, including one of a tent set up weeks before the attack that killed 26 people.