Old video of robbers’ arrest in Natore shared as “indigenous people” caught with weapons
A video recently circulated on social media claims that several “indigenous people” were detained with bags full of weapons. However, Dismislab’s factcheck found that the footage is actually from an incident about three and a half months ago, when four people preparing for a robbery were arrested by the army in Gurudaspur, Natore. The detainees—all residents of Natore—were carrying toy guns and homemade weapons. The incident has no connection with any “indigenous” or hill communities.
A four-second video posted on a Facebook page called Bangladesh Defense News shows four men being detained by the army. The post’s caption reads: “Caught red-handed with bags full of weapons — Nannamunna tribal”.
In the comments, one user wrote: “Why do these hill terrorists want the army withdrawn from the hills? People understand now that these hills belong to us. Push these terrorists back into their hills. They are using these weapons against our country, sovereignty, and army. If we don’t crush them now, we’ll lose our sovereignty. The government and the army must be strict; politeness won’t work.”
Another user commented: “Hill terrorists. Patriotic army, please stop them, Inshallah.” Someone else shared the post, writing: “See how the patrolling army in the hills is not even letting us smuggle weapons in peace. In short, Tottogram is ours. — Chingchangchung” (Mocking).
The video has been viewed more than 750,000 times and shared at least 1,500 times.
A keyframe search of the video found several posts from June 21 showing the same footage. On that day, multiple Facebook users (1, 2) shared longer versions of the video with captions saying, “They tried robbery with toy guns!” These versions contained the original audio, which had been replaced by music in the viral video to make it unclear.
From the original audio, it was possible to identify the detained individuals and the location. A keyword search using those details led to several news reports, both written (1, 2) and video. According to those reports, around midnight on June 20, the army conducted a raid in the Kalakandar Sluice Gate area of the upazila and detained four people preparing for a robbery. Based on their information, two other top members of the gang were later arrested from Nazirpur.
Authorities recovered homemade weapons and a toy gun from the suspects. The arrested men were identified as gang leader Abdur Razzak (38), and gang members Kawser Ahmed (25), Biplob Hossain (24), Mowidul Islam (21), Monirul (24), and Suruj Ali (21).
The following day, the Natore Army Camp issued a press release confirming the arrests. Citing the release, Somoy News reported: “As part of regular patrol and security checks, the army set up a checkpost. During the operation, they detained four suspects and recovered a toy pistol and several homemade sharp weapons. During preliminary questioning, the detainees admitted they were active members of a robbery gang that had long been intimidating and robbing locals. Based on their statements, two more members were arrested later.”
In short, the viral video claiming that “indigenous people” were caught with bags full of weapons is actually an old video from Natore involving the arrest of local robbers.
Notably, on September 23, violent clashes broke out in Khagrachhari following allegations of gang rape of a Marma teenage girl. Amid that tension, several false claims about hill communities began spreading on social media.
