Fact Check: Punjab Cop Smoking Weed In Viral Video Is From Pakistan, Not India

<p><strong>Fact Check:</strong> A viral video (<a href=”https://www.facebook.com/100086849090645/videos/1168019314950985/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a>, <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/sunil.malik.7140/posts/949030923502843/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a>, and <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/rc.gupta.3511/posts/1565279244353626/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a>) on social media allegedly shows a police officer in Punjab running away from a news reporter after he was caught smoking weed in an auto-rickshaw. Applauding the reporter&rsquo;s efforts, social media users are sharing this video claiming that in Kejriwal&rsquo;s Punjab, even police officers have become drug addicts. We fact-check this claim through this article.&nbsp;</p>
<p>An archived version of this post can be found <a title=”here” href=”https://mvau.lt/media/c7b9adc8-4c7e-4b89-b300-ca16133b22f7″ target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener”>here</a>.&nbsp;</p>
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<p><strong>Claim:</strong> Video of a police officer in Punjab running away from a news reporter after he was caught smoking weed.</p>
<p><strong>Fact:</strong> This video was filmed in Pakistan&rsquo;s Punjab and uploaded to Facebook by a media page called &lsquo;SA Times.&rsquo; There are no recent news reports of such an incident from Punjab, India. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.</p>
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<p>To check the veracity of the viral claim, we performed a keyword search and found a <a href=”https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/pakistan-punjab-cop-flees-after-reporter-records-him-smoking-charas-in-commercial-vehicle-video-viral” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>news report </a>published by the Free Press Journal on this video. The headline of the report, which contains screenshots from the viral video (sourced from &lsquo;X&rsquo;), reads &ldquo;<em>Pakistan: Punjab Cop Flees After Reporter Records Him Smoking &lsquo;Charas&rsquo; In Commercial Vehicle; Video Vira</em>l.&rdquo;&nbsp; The report describes the visuals seen in the viral video.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src=”https://feeds.abplive.com/onecms/images/uploaded-images/2025/01/30/c47ebe1c9acaf3c33cfd25e434f47fbf1738215412706236_original.jpg” width=”720″ /></p>
<p>Taking this as a hint, we performed an additional keyword search and found a few other news reports about this incident published by <a href=”https://www.abplive.com/trending/pakistan-punjab-police-jawan-caught-red-handed-while-selling-hashish-openly-video-goes-viral-2847395″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>ABP Live</a>, <a href=”https://hindi.asianetnews.com/trending-news/pakistan-police-caught-smoking-charas-viral-video-fatima-pti-shares-social-media/articleshow-ogcv55g” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Asianet</a>, and <a href=”https://www.indiatv.in/viral/news/pakistan-punjab-police-jawan-selling-hashish-openly-caught-red-handed-by-a-reporter-video-goes-viral-2024-12-22-1099744″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>India TV</a>. They also stated that this incident took place in Pakistan&rsquo;s Punjab. Per these reports, the leader of the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf)party <a href=”https://x.com/FatimaPTI_IK/status/1869962820244169146″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>shared this video on &lsquo;X,&rsquo;</a> with a caption that translated from Urdu reads<em> &lsquo;A Punjab Police jawan was caught red-handed selling and consuming hashish.&rsquo;</em></p>
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>
<p dir=”rtl” lang=”ur”>پنجاب پولیس کا جوان چرس بیچتے اور پیتے ہوئے رنگے ہاتھوں پکڑا گیا ۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔ <a href=”https://t.co/tn8j4r1v7A”>pic.twitter.com/tn8j4r1v7A</a></p>
&mdash; Fatima PTI (@FatimaPTI_IK) <a href=”https://twitter.com/FatimaPTI_IK/status/1869962820244169146?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>December 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
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<p>To verify this, we performed another keyword search that led us to the original and extended version of the viral video posted (<a href=”https://www.facebook.com/satimesOfficial/videos/8690308831051968″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a> and <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1185673293223948″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a>) on Facebook by <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/satimesOfficial” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>&ldquo;SA Times,&rdquo;</a> an independent <a href=”https://satimes.pk/about-us/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>media organization</a> based in Pakistan.</p>
<p><br /><img src=”https://feeds.abplive.com/onecms/images/uploaded-images/2025/01/30/ec91f10bb0632dfc3f501cb2061c58ba1738215592943236_original.jpg” width=”720″ /></p>
<p>In this four-minute video, we can see a reporter approaching an auto, where he finds two people smoking weed (Charas). One of them is a police officer. We can see the flag of Pakistan on the officer&rsquo;s uniform.&nbsp;</p>
<figure class=”image”><img src=”https://feeds.abplive.com/onecms/images/uploaded-images/2025/01/30/e4a17966d15fafc23a11347f7459b6341738215628702236_original.jpg” width=”720″ />
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<p>The <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/satimesOfficial/videos/8690308831051968″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>video</a> also captured the Registration number printed on the auto-rickshaw, LEU 17 1088. Registration marks or numbers of Indian vehicles are in a format different from this one. According to the <a href=”https://parivahan.gov.in/parivahan//sites/default/files/NOTIFICATION%26ADVISORY/SO%206052%20E.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Ministry of Road Transport and Highways&rsquo; Motor Vehicles (High-Security Registration Plates) Order, 2018,</a> the registration number in India contains a two-letter unique state code in the beginning.&nbsp;But, in the viral video, the auto rickshaw&rsquo;s number plate contains a three-letter code, LEU (the name Punjab is written on its side with a logo). The two-letter code <a href=”https://www.punjabhsrp.in/specifications.php” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>assigned</a> by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways(MoRTH) to Punjab, India, is PB (according to this <a href=”https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/files/NOTIFICATIONS.pdf” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>notification</a> issued by MoRTH).</p>
<p><br /><img src=”https://feeds.abplive.com/onecms/images/uploaded-images/2025/01/30/34161057fcc156ae13acdfee7bafb0e01738215796556236_original.jpg” width=”720″ /></p>
<p>This makes it clear that the number plate does not belong to a vehicle registered in Punjab, India. You can find a few Punjab (Pakistan) vehicle registration plates <a href=”https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/t/what-does-a-means-in-lei-series/1852184″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a> and <a href=”https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pakistan_-_License_Plate_-_Punjab.png” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a>. One of them, <a href=”https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/t/what-does-a-means-in-lei-series/1852184″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>posted</a>by a user on &lsquo;pakwheels.com,&rsquo; is a number plate from Lahore (code-LEI). You can see the difference between the two in the following collage.</p>
<p><img src=”https://feeds.abplive.com/onecms/images/uploaded-images/2025/01/30/0a60aaacb00d535a64f3a87c5666afee1738215687788236_original.jpg” width=”720″ /></p>
<p>Additionally, the reporter seen in the video, <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078195197617&amp;sk=about_work_and_education” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Nadeem Abbas</a> mentions that the officer was running towards Cant. We can see him running towards a railway station. We then searched for Cant railway station in Pakistan, Punjab, and found that he was referring to the <a href=”https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lahore+Cantt.+Railway+Station/@31.5295833,74.3601032,502m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m10!1m2!2m1!1slahore+railway+station!3m6!1s0x39190502c37f2c3d:0x8ab737558b1c2db1!8m2!3d31.5304606!4d74.3612539!15sChZsYWhvcmUgcmFpbHdheSBzdGF0aW9ukgENdHJhaW5fc3RhdGlvbuABAA!16s%2Fm%2F0127ycz2?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Lahore Cantonment railway station</a>. A few photos (<a href=”https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lahore+Cantt.+Railway+Station/@31.5304606,74.3612539,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipO7OsG9ntMjqxeV0tjBRuaE3SOJmQu4q2E4CY_M!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO7OsG9ntMjqxeV0tjBRuaE3SOJmQu4q2E4CY_M%3Dw203-h135-k-no!7i6720!8i4480!4m7!3m6!1s0x39190502c37f2c3d:0x8ab737558b1c2db1!8m2!3d31.5304606!4d74.3612539!10e5!16s%2Fm%2F0127ycz2?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a> and <a href=”https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lahore+Cantt.+Railway+Station/@31.5303498,74.361144,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipMQZtPTWJ49hXPsMwkvXTfojGHvBPlKjzRehdjY!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMQZtPTWJ49hXPsMwkvXTfojGHvBPlKjzRehdjY%3Dw203-h152-k-no!7i4000!8i3000!4m7!3m6!1s0x39190502c37f2c3d:0x8ab737558b1c2db1!8m2!3d31.5304606!4d74.3612539!10e5!16s%2Fm%2F0127ycz2?entry=ttu&amp;g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>here</a>) uploaded by users on Google Maps have similarities with the visuals observed in the viral video.&nbsp;</p>
<figure class=”image”><img src=”https://feeds.abplive.com/onecms/images/uploaded-images/2025/01/30/270e152ef71a3070f6a4a040b6fa12ba1738215733484236_original.jpg” width=”720″ />
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<p>Further, we performed a keyword search to check if such an incident of a police officer getting caught smoking weed/cannabis took place in the Indian side of Punjab. We did not find any recent credible news reports.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To sum up, a video filmed in Punjab, Pakistan, is falsely shared as visuals of a police officer in Punjab, India, caught while smoking weed.</p>
<p><strong><em>This story was originally published by <a href=”https://factly.in/a-video-filmed-in-punjab-pakistan-is-falsely-shared-as-visuals-of-a-police-officer-in-punjab-india-caught-while-smoking-weed/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Factly</a>, as part of the Shakti Collective. Except for the headline and excerpt, this story has not been edited by ABP LIVE staff. &nbsp;</em></strong></p>