Author: News Desk

The viral video that showed a young girl offering her lollipop to a robber is not real, The Current has confirmed through a deep dive of the internet using different frames, from what was claimed to be CCTV footage.

As per the details, the video that started doing rounds in WhatsApp groups on Sunday evening went on to garner tens of millions of views as it was reshared and aired by leading mainstream media outlets.

The undated video, with fake timestamps among other digital prints, to make it look more like CCTV footage, showed a robber entering a store located at an undisclosed location. He was then seen assaulting the shopkeeper, forcing him to pay up at gunpoint.

As the robber was about to leave, the video showed a young girl, claimed to be the shopkeeper’s minor daughter, offering the masked man her lollipop. Seeing this, the robber returned the shopkeeper’s valuables, patting the girl on her head and leaving the store empty-handed.

With the video going viral on social media, netizens were left divided over its authenticity. While a few said it seemed scripted, hundreds of thousands of others praised the “kind-heartedness” of the robber, whom, social media users said “seemed to have been forced into a life of crime”.

Amid conflicting claims, The Current reverse-searched the purported CCTV footage using different frames and uncovered that the video was, in fact, fake.

As per the details of The Current’s findings, the video was produced by a YouTube channel named Kamran Team Official, which has over 80,000 subscribers. The channel has at least 172 videos, most of which are scripted or edited CCTV videos ranging from humour to social messaging.

While most videos on the channel have hundreds of thousands of views, some have garnered views upwards of a whopping five million.

Taking a detailed look at the channel’s content, The Current also discovered that the store from the robbery video had repeatedly been featured in various videos, and so were the actors, as well as the toy gun.

You can view the channel’s content here: 

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A captured terrorist, Ehsanullah s/o one Abdul Janan, has revealed shocking details of how Fitna al-Khawarij – a term used by the state for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – tricks young people into anti-state activities in Pakistan. 

A video released by security agencies showed Ehsanullah revealing to investigators how militants use religious rhetoric to radicalise youths and manipulate them into carrying out terrorist activities against Pakistan’s armed forces.

Revealing he worked as a facilitator to several key TTP commanders for three years, Ehsanullah confessed to helping commanders Badri, Mushtaq, Grenade and Islamuddin. He said these men deliberately spread false propaganda, claiming that Pakistani forces comprise of “non-believers”.

Even though, he added, they themselves are the real khawarij.

These militants, Ehsanullah said, launched several attacks, including one on a police station using armoured vehicles and tanks. “Worse, they coerced young men into committing grave sins like sexual abuse and dishonourable acts, all under the guise of advancing their ideological goals,” he revealed.

Ehsaanullah said his perspective changed once he saw how the Pakistani army genuinely followed Islamic morals. “When I saw the army’s faith and discipline… I understood they have true ethics,” the captured militant said, adding he saw military personnel praying five times a day.

The video comes as Pakistan’s war on terror continues amid a spike in terror incidents across the country.

It also follows a suicide attack on a district court in Islamabad killed 12 people and injured 27 others. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility.

The attack in the federal capital was the first in three years, with the last suicide attack occurring in December 2022.

However, other parts of the country, particularly the bordering provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have seen a sharp increase in terror attacks since the Afghan Taliban grabbed power in 2021.

The cross-border attacks from Afghanistan resulted in intense clashes between the forces from Pakistan and Afghanistan last month.

Pakistan killed over 200 Taliban fighters and India-backed militants in retaliatory actions after they resorted to unprovoked firing along the border.

The two countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire after week-long clashes, but failed to finalise its details during several rounds of negotiations that collapsed earlier this month.