Claim: A viral image shows that the FIA raid in Shaukat Khanum Hospital recovered 260 million dollars in foreign currencies including dollars, pounds, and riyals.
Fact: The viral image is from a raid of a Mexican drug lord’s luxury home in March 2007.
On 3 September 2023, a Twitter (now X) user (@Drsamina19) shared an image showing stacks of cash. The picture was captioned:
“شوکت خانم ہسپتال میں ایف آئی اے کا چھاپہ 260 ملین ڈالر کی بیرونی کرنسی برآمد جس میں ڈالر،پاؤنڈ،ریال،بھی شامل ہے”
[Translation: FIA raid in Shaukat Khanum hospital recovered foreign currency worth 260 million dollars, including dollars, pounds, riyals.]
The tweet claimed that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had raided a Shaukat Khanum facility and found $260 million worth of foreign currency.
Fact or Fiction?
Through Google reverse image search, we found this image was first published on 16 March 2007 by Reuters in an article headlined, “Police find $206 mln drug cash in Mexican house.” The article states that the police had found $206 million in cash, belonging to a drug smuggler who imported chemicals used in making methamphetamines. This cash was stacked in his mansion in Mexico City. Along with the cash, the police also seized 7 firearms, a Mercedes Benz vehicle, and machinery used to make tablets.
Thus, the raid shown in the image had nothing to do with Shaukat Khanum. We also searched all mainstream news organisations for any articles published in the last two weeks which included the words “FIA”, “raid” and “Shaukat Khanum” in English and Urdu, and we found no news coverage making the claim mentioned above.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the image was published on Facebook here, here, here, here, and here. On X, the claim was viewed 164,200 times and received over 1,700 interactions.
Conclusion: The FIA did not raid Shaukat Khanum Hospital and recovered $260 million worth of foreign currency; the viral image was actually of a raid at a Mexican mansion in 2007.
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