Fact Check: Old videos of supermarket thefts go viral linking them to Ramadan
A video of two burqa-clad women pulling out a horde of items from under their garments at a supermarket is going viral on social media with the claim that they were stolen for 'iftar' during Ramadan.
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India Today Fact Check
The video was shot last year in August in London. It has nothing to do with the ongoing Ramadan season.
A video of two burqa-clad women pulling out a horde of items from under their garments at a supermarket is going viral on social media with the claim that they were stolen for 'iftar' during Ramadan. The two women are seen surrounded by a group of men and it appears that they were caught stealing stuff from the supermarket.
The sarcastic caption in Hindi along with the video translates to, "It's the time of Ramzaan, had taken some stuff for roza-iftari, but the kaffirs (disbelievers) took them out from under the burqa too." The post gives the impression that the incident took place recently as it is the month of Ramadan.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim along with the video to be misleading. The video was shot in August last year in London and has nothing to do with the ongoing Ramadan season.
The post is viral on Facebook and Twitter. The archived version can be seen here.
AFWA investigation
Using keywords, we found several news reports related to the video. According to "The Sun", this incident took place at an Asda store in Dagenham, East London, where two women in burqa were confronted on suspicion of theft. This report was published on August 7, 2019.
A local newspaper of London called "Evening Standard" had also reported about the incident in August last year.
We found another similar video doing the rounds on social media with the same claim. This video also shows two burqa-clad women pulling out chocolates and other items from under their robes. It seems that the video was shot in a different supermarket.
We could not find details about the video but this too is old as it has been circulating on social media since September last year.
Therefore, it is clear that old videos of thefts by burqa-clad women are being passed off as thefts during Ramadan.
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