CLAIM: A printing shop in Harare is producing fake US dollars and police have arrested a retired army officer over the notes.
SOURCE: Viral social media posts
VERDICT: False. Images purporting to show pictures of arrests over fake US dollars are in fact from Angola, not Zimbabwe.
Pictures have gone viral among Zimbabwean social media users claiming to show police making arrests over fake US dollar notes.
A Facebook page, Zimbabwe Reports, claimed that the pictures show the arrest of a “62-year-old retired colonel and two accomplices” in Manicaland.
However, the pictures are not from Zimbabwe. They are from Angola.
How do we know?
First, the pictures are used widely in articles in the Angolan press over the incident.
Angolan website Angola24Horas reported on April 21 that three people had been arrested for “50 million counterfeit US dollars”. The website said those arrested included a “62-year-old colonel” and two others.
Namibia’s Informante website also uses the pictures in an article about the incident in Angola.
A report by the Lusa news agency of Angola on April 22 says: “According to the deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) in Huambo, Amílcar Belembe…the notes were produced in a printing shop in Luanda with the purpose of being introduced to the market.”
The pictures also show officers with bibs bearing the insignia of the Serviço de Investigação Criminal (SIC), the criminal investigations bureau in Angola.
Conclusion
Social media posts claiming to show a large fake currency bust in Zimbabwe are misleading. The pictures are from Angola, and not Zimbabwe as claimed. The images appear in several articles in the Angolan press, and the arresting officers in the photos are visibly wearing official Angolan police uniforms.
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