AI-generated photos circulate, claiming looting of migrants’ belongings at Dhaka Airport
Two photos of open luggage spread on social media, with claims that expensive items vanish from migrants’ bags every day at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. But Dismislab’s fact-check shows the photos are AI-generated.
The two photos in question spread on social media after they were posted from a personal Facebook profile. The caption reads, “No goods from the luggage of migrant brothers got stolen during any of the past governments, but Yunus’ government creates a record to the utter surprise of the world. A migrant brings some gift items to make his family happy when he comes home. If those things get stolen at the airport, what can be more hurtful than this? In what kind of country are we living?” Several personal profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) shared the first photo with the same claim.
A Facebook page and TikTok shared the second photo. In the description of a personal profile post that shared the photo, it reads, “Scene of Hazrat Shahjalal (Rh) International Airport; this is how the grand festival of looting of migrants’ expensive belongings runs. No one watches. This is the new La*l Bangladesh.” Until the report’s publication, the post had been shared nearly 750 times and received over three thousand reactions.
The first photo shows a man lying on the floor of the airport’s baggage claim area. His suitcase lies open beside him. Everything inside the luggage lies scattered on the floor.
The second photo shows three people sitting with open luggage. Clothes, phones, and other belongings from their bags lie scattered on the floor.
While analysing the photos, it appears that all letters in the 1st photo show blurry shapes. No text reads clearly. Only the “14.35” marking looks understandable. In the 2nd photo, no text appears clearly. The luggage holders show many inconsistencies in shape. The colour of the Bangladesh Police uniform looks mismatched. Inside the frame, one person seems to take a photo with a phone, but the screen shows a scene in the mobile that mismatches the real image. These inconsistencies indicate AI-generated images.
For further checking, the AI-verification tool ‘Hive Moderation’ marks both images as almost 100% AI-generated.
So, the two photos circulated with the claim of looting migrants’ belongings at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport originated through AI.
Notably, a recent video surfaced showing allegations of theft from migrants’ luggage at Shahjalal International Airport. In this context, some people create AI-generated images and spread them with claims of harassment of migrants at the airport.
