A video of policemen apprehending a man dressed in a burqa has been shared on social media. Facebook user Shashi Patil shared the clip and wrote that the video was for those who ask where the explosives in Pulwama came from. It amassed over 13,000 views at the time of writing.

 

पुलवामा मध्ये स्फोटके आली कुठून विचारणार्या लपडझंडीस लोकांसाठी हा व्हिडीओ 😡😡😡

Posted by Shashi Patil on Thursday, September 23, 2021

Another user named Sujay Anu also posted the video claiming that a man was walking around in a burqa with gunpowder in his possession.

 

भाईजान बुर्के में बारूद लेकर घूम रहे हैं।

Posted by सुजय अनु on Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Several other Facebook users have amplified the clip.

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Fact-check

Alt News performed a reverse image search of a frame from the clip, which led us to a YouTube video from March 11, 2021. Bangladeshi YouTube channel Smile TV reported that police nabbed a man in Chittagong for smuggling drugs disguised as a pregnant woman. In fact, they had arrested two such smugglers.

The policemen in the video are wearing the Bangladeshi police uniform. A comparison of a publicly available image of Bangladeshi cops shows the similarities.

We also performed a keyword search and came across an article by Chittagong news outlet Cvoice24 dated March 9, 2021. It quoted the Office-in-Charge of Ravzan Police Station as saying that the police were stationed at a check post and were searching all passengers. They discovered that an individual seated inside an auto was not a woman but a man smuggling liquor in the guise of being pregnant.

A video from Bangladesh was thus, shared on Indian social media with the false claim that a man dressed in a burqa was smuggling explosives. Videos and pictures from Bangladesh have often been shared as India with misleading and false claims.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.