Sputnik has discovered a possible cryptocurrency wallet intermediary in the terrorist attack at Crocus
The link to the account was posted on a Telegram channel titled Voice of Khorasan, associated with the IS [Islamic State*] terrorist organization.
Transfer data available on the Internet revealed that the address of the wallet on the Tronscan platform first appeared on March 12 in a post on a Telegram channel with an extremist orientation, the administrator of which is a person with the nickname Mavlavi_56, who also runs the Telegram channel Voice of Khorasan.
The next day, March 13, the account became active: $2.19 worth of tokens was received in its first transfer.
A source previously said that the now-defunct Voice of Khorasan channel was used to recruit the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall concert venue terrorist attack.
The account on the Tronscan platform experienced a peak of activity on March 22, with $2,525 worth of tokens arriving and being withdrawn almost immediately. In total, there were four inbound and four outbound transfers: $325, $550, $550, and $1100.
The first tranche of $325 (possibly an advance payment) was transferred around 10-10:30 a.m. on March 22. The last three transfers, totaling $2,200, arrived and were withdrawn from the account between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., approximately one to two hours after the first reports of the terrorist attack.
The funds received were withdrawn almost immediately. In this context, it can be assumed that this account was used as an "intermediary" to transfer money between the accounts of the presumed organizers on the one hand, and the perpetrators of the terrorist attack on the other.
A shooting occurred on March 22 in the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the city of Krasnogorsk, just outside Moscow, followed by a massive fire. A Sputnik correspondent who witnessed the attack reported that a number of gunmen in camouflage broke into the music hall, shooting people point-blank and throwing incendiary bombs. The Russian Investigative Committee said that at least 143 people were killed and 360 were injured as a result of the attack. The four main suspects in the case — all citizens of Tajikistan — were detained and charged with terrorism.
The Crocus City Hall terrorist attack is the deadliest in Russia in nearly 20 years.
* A terrorist group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, outlawed in Russia and many other countries.