Fact-check: Footage of seized weapons is from PTI’s May 25 Long March

Multiple social media posts claim that the Punjab police has recovered significant quantities of arms and ammunition in Lahore which could be used during former prime minister Imran Khan’s long march to Islamabad.

The allegation is false.

Claim

On October 29, a Twitter user posted a clip from a press conference of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Operations in Lahore.

“These weapons are latest and new,” the senior cop can be heard telling reporters, as he showed images of seized arms, “At night these weapons were transferred to the city of Lahore. It is apparent that [these] will be used in the long march that is happening.”

The clip was posted by a social media account with the caption: “Agencies report and the press conference of Faisal Vawda are a reality”, in an attempt to link it with the long march initiated by former prime minister Imran Khan from Lahore on Friday.

The footage has been viewed over 1,000 times on Twitter and has had over 200 retweets.

Another social media user uploaded the clip on Facebook and wrote that Khan’s march was a violent march.

Fact

The video is from May 25, the last time Khan took to the streets against the current government.

At that time, Sohail Chaudhry, the DIG Operations police, held a presser with the senior police officials in Lahore, Punjab, where he showed images of the weapons which were recovered by the police from members of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

The presser was aired live by several local television channels, as well as posted by the official account of the DIG Operations Lahore.

In fact, Sohail Chaudhry is no longer the DIG Operations in Lahore. He was replaced by Afzaal Ahmed Kauser, on August 1. Hence the claim that the press conference is from this week is incorrect.

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