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Investigators traced one of the mobile phones used in the Pahalgam attack in 2025 to a consignment imported into Pakistan and financed by a Karachi-based bank that has earlier figured in terror-related investigations. Reports said that the investigators examined two Xiaomi handsets recovered from the attackers. One of the devices was part of a shipment imported to Pakistan in 2021 by Karachi-based Tech Sirat Pvt. Ltd.
The developments have surfaced from the investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Jammu and Kashmir Police into the attack that killed at least 26 people, Indian Express reported.
What Information Has Been Gathered?
The investigating team revealed that the attackers carried two Xiaomi Redmi-series phones—an orange Redmi 9T imported in 2021 and a black Redmi Note 12 imported in 2023.
The report says the devices were recovered from three attackers—Faisal Jatt, alias Suleiman Shah; Habeeb Tahir, alias Jibran; and Hamza Afghani. The terrorists were killed in an encounter at Mulnar Mahadev in Dachigam Forest, Jammu and Kashmir, on July 28, 2025.
When the investigators interrogated officials of Xiaomi Global, they revealed the Redmi 9T belonged to a consignment imported by Tech Sirat Pvt. Ltd., a Pakistan-based company with offices on Clifton Road in Karachi.
The inquiry also revealed the consignment was delivered in Pakistan on January 1, 2021.
The NIA investigation said that the logistics company listed for the consignment was Faysal Bank. The delivery address was recorded as "St/02, Faysal House, Main Branch, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi, Pakistan," the official address of Faysal Bank Ltd.
The Pakistani bank has reportedly financed the import through a letter of credit, a routine banking arrangement for large consignments. Investigators suspect that the attackers may have stolen the phone from the imported consignment before it eventually reached Lashkar-e-Taiba.
“The consignment must have been received by Tech Sirat, but documents show delivery to the bank since it financed the import. The phone used by the attackers appears to have been removed from the consignment and eventually reached the LeT," an officer familiar with the investigation told Indian Express.
Officials said that the phone remained unused from the time it was imported in 2021 until shortly before the Pahalgam attack.
What Do Earlier Reports Reveal?
The investigation team said that there is no evidence linking Faysal Bank directly to the Pahalgam attack. However, the bank has surfaced in previous terror-related investigations.
The New York Times in 2007 reported that lawsuits filed after the September 11 attacks showed that Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lajnat al-Dawa, a Kuwait-based organization alleged to have links with Al-Qaeda, maintained accounts at Faysal Bank.
The report added that lawyers representing the bank’s holding company rejected any association with terrorist organizations and said the accounts were frozen once they were designated or banned.
Air Link Communications Ltd, based in Lahore, imported the second device recovered from the attackers, a Redmi Note 12.
According to investigators, that phone too remained switched off from the time it entered Pakistan until the period leading up to the attack.
What Happened To The Second Device?
The second device recovered from the attackers, a Redmi Note 12, had been imported by Air Link Communications Ltd, based in Lahore.
According to investigators, that phone too remained switched off from the time it entered Pakistan until the period leading up to the attack.
No communication records were retrieved by the investigation team, as the attackers used long-range radio communication technology rather than mobile networks or the internet.
However, forensic examination recovered photographs and maps from the phones, including images of Baisaran Meadows and surrounding areas in Pahalgam.