Video shows Sindh Police and ANCC rounding up drug users, not Afghans

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to investigate the video.

Multiple users on social media platform X circulated a video since April 4, 2025, showing the Sindh Police arresting several individuals as a crowd cheered them on, claiming it depicted the arrest of Afghan nationals following the March 31 deportation deadline. However, the video is unrelated to the detention of Afghan nationals and shows drug users being rounded up.

As part of the government’s plan to repatriate all illegal foreigners, March 31 was officially set as the deadline for Afghan Citizen Card (ACCs) holders to leave Pakistan voluntarily. The AFP news agency reported the deadline was extended due to Eid holidays, while the Associated Press claimed that arrests and deportations had been paused until April 10.

However, the interior ministry denied this claim, maintaining that there had been no extension. As part of the ongoing process, thousands of Afghan nationals have since been deported.

HOW IT STARTED

On April 4, an X user shared a video of multiple people sitting at the back of a police van as onlookers chanted slogans in support of the law enforcement agency.

The post was captioned: “Pakistani people are working alongside police as arrests of Afghans begin. And see the happiness of the people through this process.”

The post was viewed 70,000 times.

The same video was posted by pro-PMLN accounts here, and here, racking up 15,000 and 13,000 views respectively.

It was also shared by other users on X here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the ongoing deportation process of Afghan nationals from Pakistan.

Analysing the video through manipulation detection tools showed that Attestiv.ai assigned it a 44 per cent suspicion rating, Deepware also flagged the content as suspicious and Hive Moderation found no evidence of tampering.

Checking the video showed that a bearded man wearing a red shirt could be heard saying: “Today is 11th Ramazan and a massive crackdown has taken place at Shahrah-i-Noorjehan.”

This was contrary to the phrasing of the posts which were framed in a manner that the video was from the present instance of roundups and arrests.

The 11th of Ramazan fell on March 12 while the deadline for Afghan nationals to leave Pakistan was March 31, after which law enforcement agencies sprung into action to arrest and gather Afghans.

A reverse image search yielded the video posted on YouTube dated March 14.

Further investigation led to a TikTok account that featured multiple clips of the same incident, showing the same man — identified as Younus Amin, the operational director of Anti-Narcotics Crime Control (ANCC).

ANCC describes itself as a social awareness organisation committed to combatting drug abuse and crime that identifies, apprehends and rehabilitates drug addicts with the help of the police and government.

In another video in which he could be seen wearing the same clothes, Amin explained that a raid was carried out by the Shahrah-i-Noor Jahan Police on 11th Ramazan against drug addicts and nomadic beggars in District Central.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral video shows citizens helping the Sindh Police in detaining Afghan nationals following the expiry of the deportation deadline is false.

The video actually shows an operation of the Shahrah-i-Noor Jahan Police against drug addicts and beggars in conjunction with the Anti-Narcotics Crime Control organisation on March 12, more than two weeks before the March 31 deadline for Afghan nationals to leave Pakistan.