New Delhi: The GoPro Hero 12 Black camera allegedly used to carry out the recce of Kashmir’s Baisaran Valley was traced to a China-based distributor and was activated more than a year before the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, ThePrint has learnt.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is now set to issue a Letter Rogatory as information regarding the camera’s activation, initial use, and commercial trail lies within the jurisdiction of China.
A Letter Rogatory is a formal, diplomatic request from a court in one country to the judiciary of another country. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has given its nod to the process, the special NIA judge in Jammu noted.
The facts came to light during the investigation as various material objects and electronic devices connected to the conspiracy and execution of the attack were examined.
Probing the case, the NIA issued a notice to the US-based manufacturer, Go Pro B.V., to obtain details of the purchaser, end user, and associated technical records of the device.
“The said camera was supplied to AE Group International Limited, a distributor based in the People’s Republic of China; and the camera was activated on 30.01.2024 at Dongguan, People’s Republic of China,” the NIA submitted before the special court the response from the manufacturer.
However, the central counter-terrorism agency has so far been unable to trace the camera’s end-user records or its transportation from China to Jammu and Kashmir. To establish the linkage and trace the records of camera users, it sought an order from the special NIA court in Jammu to send a formal, judicial request to Chinese authorities.
The special court granted the NIA approval to send a Letter Rogatory to Chinese authorities and directed the investigating officer to upload a soft copy of the letter rogatory, along with its translations, to the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) portal.
Additionally, the NIA investigating officer was directed to send three sets of physical Letter Rogatory (one original and two photocopies), along with translated copies in Chinese, to the International Police Cooperation Unit (IPCU) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been further directed to send the LR to Chinese authorities through diplomatic channels. The IPCU unit of the CBI is the nodal unit for communication with global agencies and Interpol.
The NIA noted that the camera manufacturer cited limitations due to the absence of information on the device’s end-user records.
“The manufacturer has further stated that it does not possess downstream transactions. The activation, initial use and commercial trail of the said device lie within the territorial jurisdiction of the People’s Republic of China, and the information necessary to trace the purchaser, end-user and associated technical records can only be obtained through judicial assistance of the Chinese authorities, hence the application,” the NIA told the court.
“Since the information sought for is very important so far establishing the chain of custody, user, attribution and evidentiary linkage of seized device i.e. camera, GoPro B. V. which was supplied to AE group International Ltd, a distributor based in China,” the special NIA judge said in the order, approving the request for issuing Letter Rogatory.
The judge went on to allow the application and Letter Rogatory be issued to the competent Chinese judicial authority for seeking assistance and tracing the purchaser, end user, and associated technical records to unearth the larger conspiracy.
Terrorists had killed 26 people, including a Nepalese tourist, on 22 April, 2025 in Pahalgam. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor to destroy terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Then in July, the Indian government announced in Parliament that security personnel had eliminated the three terrorists involved in the dastardly attack.
(Edited by Tony Rai)