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Fact Check: Old news circulates of drug smuggler arrested for impersonating army officer
Several Indian-based and pro-Afghanistan social media propaganda accounts claimed that a Pakistan Army major was arrested with a massive quantity of narcotics.
The accounts claimed that an army officer named Major Iqbal Ali was arrested in Mardan by the Excise and Narcotics Control Department for possessing over 60 kilograms of hashish.
A picture of a man dressed in an army uninform with policemen was shown as evidence of the incident. The claims were made here, here, here, and here.
An X user shared a video, captioned, “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have arrested a serving army officer with 150 kilograms of hashish, which is being described as a major and unusual operation by law enforcement agencies.” The video has been viewed 212,000 times.
Fact Check Pakistan determined the claims are false, while an old picture is being circulated as recent news. The pictures dates back to April 2, 2023, when a suspect impersonating as an army officer was arrested for possessing and smuggling drugs.
The incident was covered in the local media. An article in Pakistan observer dated April 2, 2023, was headlined “Man impersonating Pakistan Army Major arrested with huge cache of drugs near PAF Risalpur.”
The report said the law enforcers arrested a man impersonating an army officer dressed in an armed forces uniform attempting to peddle a huge cache of drugs.
Excise department officials and local police conducted an operation on a tip-off and chased the vehicle but the driver attempted to escape. The vehicle stopped near Risalpur, where the driver identified himself as Major Iqbal Ali. The investigation revealed the man was not an army officer and confessed to smuggling drugs.
Thus, the claims that a Pakistan army officer was arrested for drugs smuggling are fake, and attempts to malign the armed forces. The claim that this occurred “yesterday” is factually incorrect and intentionally fabricated.
