Border tensions between Assam and Mizoram reached new heights on Monday as five Assam Police Personnel were killed after firing ensued between the police personnel of both the states along the interstate border in Cachar district.
Amidst this, a Facebook post showing a cache of arms and ammunition being left behind by Assam Police after the violence broke out is doing rounds on social media.
Headline8 conducted a fact-check and found out that the post is fake.
Claim
A Facebook user, Omar Shadap, on Monday posted a picture of a cache of arms and ammunition with the caption, ” Arms left behind by Assam Police after surrendering with white flag to Mizoram Police within Mizoram Territory. Shame on Govt of Assam.” The post has been deleted by the user, however, our team at Headline8 took a screenshot of the post before it was deleted and it is shown below:
Investigation
Our team first conducted a google reverse image search of the picture which led us to the official Twitter handle of a Myanmar-based journalist and the website of a Myanmar-based news channel. It was found that picture is from Myanmar where 20 soldiers including a captain of a Myanmar militant organization surrendered to the local people’s defence forces.
The journalist from Myanmar, Min Ye Kyaw, on his Twitter handle posted the picture on Monday with the caption, ” JUST IN: About 20 soldiers, including Cap. Thein Htike, a 55-week-old military graduate in charge of Magwe Ein Nu camp in Mindat, Chin State, surrendered to the local People’s Defense Forces without fighting.”
The links of the Twitter handle of Min Ye Kyaw and the website of the Myanmar-based news channel found during the google reverse image search can be found here, and here.
We further continued our investigation by contacting fact-checker Rangman Das, a fact-checker of Vishwas News, a reputed national media house based in Delhi. Das dismissed the claims and stated, ” The Facebook post is completely false and misleading. Assam Police did not surrender to Mizoram Police and they also did not leave behind any arms and ammunition. No such incident happened yesterday. Moreover, Assam Police do not carry such guns.”
Finally, we concluded the investigation by doing a background check of the Facebook user who uploaded the post. As per his Facebook account, Omar Shadap is from Meghalaya and he works as a tour manager. Moreover, his account is filled with posts accusing Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his government of instigating violence at the Assam-Mizoram border.
Conclusion
Headline8 investigated and found out that the Facebook post is fake. Assam Police did not surrender to Mizoram Police and leave behind a cache of arms and ammunition. The picture is from Myanmar where 20 soldiers of a militant organisation surrendered on Monday
