Video of polling center takeover circulated with claims of BSF spy detention
A video was circulated on multiple social media platforms claiming that a spy of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) infiltrated Bangladesh to plant mines, and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has detained him. However, a fact-check by Dismislab reveals that the video is old and of a different incident. Verification shows that on February 12 of this year, during the 13th National Parliamentary Election, a cocktail (crude bomb) explosion occurred in an attempt to take over a polling center in Munshiganj. At that time, police, army, and BGB members worked to bring the situation under control. A video of that incident was circulated with the claim of a BSF spy’s detention.
On June 7, a 32-second video was posted from a Facebook page named “The Student Journal” with the caption, “The BGB has detained a BSF spy who infiltrated Bangladesh to plant mines.” In the 32-second video, multiple army personnel are seen detaining an individual wearing a maroon t-shirt. At the 25-second mark of the video, army personnel are seen inside a tin-roofed house.
Up until the writing of this report, the video has been viewed more than 4.7 million times and shared at least 15,000 times.
The video has also been shared with the same claim on multiple personal Facebook profiles and pages (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). The same claim has been made by multiple YouTube channels (1, 2, 3) as well. This video was also shared from an Instagram account.
To verify the truth, a reverse image search led to a video report by Jamuna TV. The title of the report published on February 12 was, “Cocktail explosion outside center in Munshiganj; Army apprehends.” The scenes in this report are an exact match to the circulated video. In this video as well, the same person is seen, and the army is seen detaining him. Additionally, in the video reports of multiple (1, 2, 3, 4) media outlets, the video is referred to as the incident of the polling center takeover in Munshiganj.
Written reports regarding this have also been published in multiple (1, 2, 3, 4) national media outlets. A report published in Ittefaq stated, “Several rounds of cocktail explosions have occurred next to a polling center in the Munshiganj-3 constituency. With the swift action of the law enforcement forces, the situation was brought under control, and at one point, 5 individuals were detained while trying to flee by running through a potato field. An unexploded cocktail was also recovered. This incident occurred near the Makkhati Gurucharan High School center in Munshiganj Sadar Upazila on February 12. Due to this, voting at the center was temporarily disrupted.”
That is to say, the video circulated with the claim of a BSF spy’s detention is of the polling center takeover incident in Munshiganj.
