Videos of teenagers’ ‘extortion’ on railway tracks were actually from a film shooting
Multiple videos showing several teenagers walking along railway tracks carrying locally made weapons have circulated on social media. The videos are being shared with claims that the teenagers are openly brandishing weapons and engaging in extortion. However, verification found that these are not scenes of extortion or activities by a teenage gang, but videos recorded during a shoot.
First video
A post recently circulated on Facebook shared the video and was captioned, “Share the video. Some teenage boys are openly showing off locally made ram da (a traditional large knife) and knives on the railway tracks, perhaps collecting chanda (extortion money), as a result of which ordinary people are fed up.” The post, published on September 20, further claimed, “These unruly boys are walking along the railway tracks carrying local weapons, sharp knives and axes. Some people are watching the spectacle. This is what the current situation in Bangladesh has become. The activities of teenage gangs have increased so much that it is difficult to live in this country.”
As of the publication of this report, the post had been viewed more than 331,000 times. The post had been shared more than 8,000 times.
Second video
Another video was also posted on September 9 from a Facebook profile named “BD Rajon Official.” A user commented below the video, “Does the government not see this? Does the administration not see this? What kind of country are you running? If they can openly engage in extortion in broad daylight in this country, then what kind of country are you running? Why have they still not been arrested, or should we take up arms ourselves?”
In an Instagram post, the second video was described as an incident at Tongi Railway Station in Gazipur, with the caption, “Local residents are living in fear because of Jamaat-Shibir and BNP terrorists.”
Verification found that both incidents were actually filmed scenes
When the keyframes from the videos were subjected to a reverse image search as part of the verification, a video from a profile named Sk Shahin came up. The post containing that video, dated September 16, had the caption, “Shooting time.” The video exactly matches the first video.
The second video was also found on the same page. On July 31, the page posted a video with the title, “Shooting Video Jamtail Bazar.”
A review of the page shows that various scenes from film shoots are regularly posted there. Earlier, a similar video had also been circulated on social media with claims that it showed an actual extortion incident. In a fact-check published by Dismislab, the incident was verified to show that it was not an actual case of extortion, but a scene from a shoot.
In other words, the videos circulated as showing extortion or weapons displays by teenage gangs on the railway tracks do not depict any real incident.
