Old images of weapons seized in Punjab, Gujarat shared as Delhi riots

Four images are being shared on social media with two different claims. The first image shows a huge pile of swords. The next picture shows knives on a table. The third one shows police officers inspecting the swords and the last image shows a police team standing behind a group of four people.

Claim 1: A Facebook user shared three images and said, “The stack of weapons was seized from RSS office in Delhi [ दिल्ली में, आरएसएस के एक स्थानीय कार्यालय से बरामद हथियारों का भंडार].” This was shared over 1000 times.

Claim 2: Another Facebook user claimed, “A pile of weapons was found in the house of Tahir Hussain who is said to be the mastermind behind Delhi. This is a picture from one home. Just imagine how many such houses exist? Terrorist Hussain should be hanged. This post was shared over 200 times.

[Translated from दिल्ली के तथाकथित शांतिदूत कहे जाने वाले ताहिर हुसैन के घर से हथियारों जखीरा मिला.. यह तो एक घर की तस्वीरें है, सोचो ऐसे कितने घर होंगे?आतंकी #ताहिर_हुसैन को फांसी दो।]

Several users on Twitter have circulated the claim.

Images from 2016 viral with false claim yet again

Last year, Alt News published two separate articles – July 24, 2019 and August 7, 2019 – debunking the false claims associated with the images.

Image 1

According to a 2018 report by India Today, the above photograph is from Khalsa Kirpan, a ‘kirpan’ factory in Patiala, Punjab. Last year, Alt News had contacted Khalsa Kirpan to confirm that the picture is indeed from their factory.

Image 2, 3 and 4

Twitter handle @GujaratHeadline, a Gujarat-based news platform, tweeted four images. The first image in the tweet is the same as the fourth viral image.

#Rajkot: stock of #lethal #weapons found from #Novelty #store; 5 persons arrested https://t.co/oJrQBHE7Sp #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/A9jRB77W2r

— GujaratHeadline News (@GujaratHeadline) March 5, 2016

We compared the second viral image with @GujaratHeadline’s second image. While both images have been shot in different camera angles, the identical knife placement is noticeable and highlighted in red.

We also compared viral image 3 and 4. We noticed identical weapons in the pictures and other visual similarities highlighted in red. Therefore they are from the same room.

On March 6, 2016 Times of India reported that the Rajkot crime branch had busted an illegal arms racket being operated from a hotel on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot highway. More than 250 lethal weapons including swords and knives were seized from India Palace hotel. Five persons including the owner of the hotel were arrested in the raid. The same was reported by the Gujarati newspaper Divya Bhaskar. Viral images 3, 4 and 5 are from this incident. Readers are requested to note that the Times of India and Divya Bhaskar articles no longer carry the images.

Therefore both the social media claim associated with these images are false. They are not from Delhi.