Claim: A video shows a drug bust in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in which a serving Pakistan Army major was caught red-handed smuggling contraband.
Fact: The video is authentic but the man arrested was impersonating an army officer. The incident from 2023 took place in Nowshera, KP.
On 13 May 2026, Facebook page ‘JNN News’ posted a video showing a drug bust in KP with the claim that the accused is a serving Pakistan Army officer.
Text superimposed on the top of the video states:
“خیبر پختونخوا میں پاکستان آرمی کا میجر منشیات سمیت رنگے ہاتھوں پکڑا گیا تھا۔
[A Pakistan Army major was caught red-handed with drugs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.]”
A chyron at the bottom reads:
“نیں پاکستان پر اعتماد نہیں کرتا (امریکا)
[Don’t have trust in Pakistan (America)]”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the viral video and found two posts on X (formerly Twitter) that flagged the video as false and noted that the incident took place in Mardan in 2023 where the accused was “a smuggler dressed in army uniform”.
A further reverse-image search led us to this video posted by KP Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control Department.
According to the post’s caption, the department spokesperson said the “fake Major” — identified as “Iqbal Ali, son of Farman Ali, resident of Abbottabad” — was arrested during an operation in Nowshera. The man was “dressed in Pakistan Army uniform” and caught “smuggling a large quantity of drugs”.
When his car — which had an “official number plate and tinted glass” — was searched, authorities recovered 60 kilogrammes of hashish, the spokesperson said at the time. The accused also “hit the mobile vehicle of the Excise Police Station, causing considerable damage”.
A side-by-side comparison of the viral clip and the original video posted by the KP Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control Department
The incident was reported by multiple news outlets.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the incident, which actually occurred in 2023, did not involve an actual Pakistan Army major but an imposter. The claim is false.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the video shared with the false claim dozens of times on Facebook, with the top nine viral posts garnering over 600 reactions.
It was also shared on Instagram and X, with at least one user from Afghanistan whose post gained over 1,000 views.
Conclusion: The video is authentic, but the man arrested was impersonating an army officer. The incident from 2023 took place in KP’s Nowshera.
Background image in cover photo: ExciseKPGovt
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