Old Notice About Iranian Gang Members Posing as Blanket Sellers Viral as Recent

The notice dates back to 2019 and was issued by Bajpe police in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

A poster which reportedly shows several members of an Iranian gang, posing as bedsheet sellers, has gone viral on social media.

The claim: Those sharing the post have claimed that the Delhi police had issued the notice, warning people about gang members disguised as bedsheet sellers, who were surveying houses and then looting them.

(Archives of more such posts can be seen here and here.)

But...?: While the notice is authentic, it is old and was not issued by the Delhi police.

• It was first issued by Mangaluru's Bajpe police station in 2019, and is not recent as claimed.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the viral notice using Google Lens.

• This led us to Kannada newspaper Udayavani's website, which showed an article from 2019.

• It mentioned that the Bajpe police in Mangaluru had "alerted public about the dreaded Irani gang," whose members were disguised as blanket sellers.

• We also came across a similar report from 2019 on Daijiworld.

• The Quint's Team WebQoof had previously debunked this claim in 2019, when it was incorrectly being shared as an alert issued by the Mumbai police.

Speaking to us for the earlier fact-check, an official in the Bajpe police station confirmed that they had issued the poster, and the faces on it were those of suspected robbers.

Conclusion: An old alert issued by the Bajpe police in Mangaluru, Karnataka has gone viral with the false claim that it shows a recent notice by Delhi police.

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