Video Of Livestock Theft In Morocco Peddled As Maharashtra Border

A video showing ruckus and looting at a livestock market in Morocco is being falsely shared as an incident near the Maharashtra border.

The 2.25 minutes clip which shows people throwing stones at each other, while others seize the opportunity to steal sheep from inside vehicles present at the spot was circulated with an Islamophobic caption around the time of the festival of Eid-al-Adha which was celebrated on August 1, 2020. 

The viral message when translated reads, "On the borders of Maharashtra and in the changing India you might see this sort of robbery for goats and rams probably for the first time. Only this had remained for us to see...the dirty politics in India which involves pulling helpless animals by their legs on the streets. Shameful. This has happened because of the weakens and carelessness of Indian Muslim politicians and Maharashtra government's hypocrisy. The public will remember this."

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BOOM received the viral clip on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) inquiring about it.

Viral on Facebook

On searching with the same caption on Facebook, we found that the video was viral with the misleading claim.

 Also Read: Video Of Eid Shopping At Mumbai or Pakistan? A FactCheck

FACT-CHECK

On breaking the video into keyframes and performing a reverse image search using Google, the search results showed that the video is from a livestock market in Casablanca, Morocco when a fight broke out between customers and livestock owners.

The search results showed a tweet from 2M TV, a Moroccan public service television channel on July 31, 2020, which included a screenshot from the viral video.

The tweet when translated from Arabic read, "20 people, including eight minors, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the violence, theft and stone-throwing witnessed in a sheep market in an area of the city's tropical region."

The tweet attributed the information to the General Directorate for National Security, which is the Moroccan state police. 

We also found the same video uploaded on July 30, 2020, on YouTube attributing the incident to a market in Morroco. 

Azmat, a Moroccan "rehba," a livestock market offering sheep and goats for sale for Eid Al Adha, was rocked with violence and chaos reported Morocco World News on July 31, 2020.

It further reported that the police had arrested 20 suspects in the Hay Hassani district in Casablanca on July 30, 2020, for their alleged involvement in acts of violence, theft, and stone throwing at the livestock market.

"The thefts were "accompanied by an exchange of stone throwing between citizens and sellers of livestock in the market." said a statement from the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) reported Morocco World News. The DGSN statement also stated that the security services had not received any complaints about theft in connection with this case, and the investigation continues. 

On comparing the frames in the viral video and Morrocan news reports, it matches identically which shows that both are the video.