A video from Bangladesh of a man wearing a burqa to smuggle alcohol caught by the local police is being shared with a false claim against Muslims in India.
The 30-second video shows the man disguised as a pregnant woman in a burqa and is being shared with a claim in Marathi that says, 'This video is a reply to everyone who questioned how were explosives smuggled into Pulwama.' The video has also been edited to add a Hindi song.
(Original caption in Marathi: "पुलवामा मध्ये स्फोटके आली कुठून विचारणार्या लपडझंडीस लोकांसाठी हा व्हिडीओ")
Click here to see the video.
The claim aims to make a communal allegation against Muslims in India and links the video to the February 2019 terror attack in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir which led to the death of 40 Central Reserved Police Force personnel and injuring several more.
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Fact Check
BOOM was able to ascertain that the uniform worn by the police officials seen in the video matches the blue official attire of the Bangladesh police department making it clear the video was not from India.
We then ran a search using keywords, 'Man wearing a burqa posed as a woman in Bangladesh' and found videos and news reports from the same incident from March 2021
A YouTube channel named Smile Tv Bangla on March 10, 2021 posted a video report on it. The video was titled as, "Man disguised as pregnant woman arrested during drug trafficking, send to custody."
(Original Headline in Bangla: ছেলে অন্তঃসত্ত্বা সেজে মাদক পাচার কালে পুলিশের অভিযানে আটক দুই কারবারি, কারাগারে প্রেরণ)
The same incident was reported by Raozan News, a local newsportal.
Bangaldeshi news outlets, Cplustv Bangla reported the incident in detail and said the man was was disguised as a pregnant woman in a burqa to avoid detection while smuggling alcohol. According to the report, the man was arrested with another woman from the Chittagong-Raozan area. The report states that on 9 March, 2021, the two accused were caught by police acting on a tip off from informants and alcohol hidden inside a saline pouch was seized from them.
Alcohol sale and consumption is restricted and regulated in Bangladesh.
The report by Cplustv Bangla also carried a photo of the man and the woman arrested. This photo matches the person seen in the viral video.
.Another Bangaldeshi media, Prothom Alo identified the accused as Muhammad Sagar (20) and Amena Begam (19) and also quoted, Abdulla Al Harun, Officer In-charge of Raozan Police station saying, "Both said they are pregnant while they were caught in check post. The on duty officials suspected one of their voices and upon a search realised that it was a man in the burqa, disguised as a woman."
With Inputs from BOOM Bangladesh.
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