Trending Aircraft Video Isn't from Zamfara State
The Claim
A video depicts an airplane ferrying illegally mining gold from Zamfara state.
News posted on
Emerging story
A video currently trending online is said to be footage of an airplane ferrying illegal gold from Nigeria’s north-western state of Zamfara.
Isaac Fayose uploaded the video, younger brother to Ekiti state’s former governor, Ayodele Fayose, on his Instagram deleted the page shortly afterward.
Facebook user Ric Hassan had said along with the video, “See how they built a bush runway and move gold out of Zamfara.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Even though illegal mining goes on in the state, the trending video is not from Zamfara, as Misbar’s investigation reveals.
Misbar's team found that the video is unrelated to Nigeria's events, as the same video surfaced in an earlier tweet here.
A reverse image search video had been posted by a Facebook user as far back as 20th April 2020 here and another of 11th February 2020, which reveals that the footage of an aircraft found in Guatemala's Central American country was associated with drug-running operations.
Local news platforms, BreakingBelizenews and The Drive also confirm this with the story of Guatemalan army officials discovering a narco-jet and two vehicles that transported the drugs and firearms in Peten on the morning January 27, 2020. Photo image of the plane in the news story corresponds with pictures of the aircraft in the footage.
The north-western state of Zamfara has been a hot-bed of illegal mining for some years now.
The area also reported the killing and kidnapping of thousands.
With the abduction of 317 girls of Government Girls Science Secondary School, Jangebe, on 26th February by armed bandits, President Buhari subsequently declared Zamfara a no-fly zone to end banditry well as illegal gold-mining in the state.
Illegal gold mining is a big business in the northwestern state, as attested to by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.
The Nigerian gold market is a big business, and the government wants to do two things simultaneously by doing this; end banditry and economic sabotage through the smuggling of gold,” he said while speaking to DailyTrust on the no-fly zone directive issued by the President.
Garba Shehu also said that a significant market exists in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates called the “Nigerian Gold Market.
