CLAIM: A group of Zimbabweans has found themselves in handcuffs after allegedly carrying out a daring £200,000 money heist in the United Kingdom (UK).
SOURCE: Various Online Media
VERDICT: False
Zimbabwean online media has been awash with a story of Zimbabweans who allegedly stole £200 000 in Coventry, United Kingdom.
The story was first carried by iHarare here. It was then picked by other numerous publications including Bulawayo24 here; The Zimbabwe Mail here; Mbare Times here; Harare Live here; and Opera News here; among others.
The stories say that the ‘Zimbabweans, revelling in their ill-gotten wealth, recorded a video in which they proudly showcased stacks of £20-pound notes’.
It is this video that is the basis of all these stories.
The video
The video was posted by a Twitter user here.
The articles claim that, ‘The video caught the attention of user King Jay, who wasted no time sharing it on Twitter. In his caption, he exposed the criminal act and revealed that the group had stolen a staggering £200,000. He added a touch of sarcasm by mentioning how the culprits were swiftly apprehended by the authorities’, adding that ‘the individuals were conversing in Ndebele, leaving no doubt about their identity’.
The video shows 3 individuals. One man can be seen, while only the feet of the other two individuals are visible. There are numerous stacks of £20 notes in bundles on a table and strewn on the floor.
There is a voice over of a woman and a man conversing in Ndebele.
Verification
The only reason that these people have been identified as Zimbabwean is the language that they are speaking. However, there is no evidence that the conversation being heard was recorded in this instance. The video is edited in such a way that while you can hear the voices, you are unable to see anyone speak. The conversation, which sounds like a phone call, makes no specific reference to money or stealing. In the conversation, the woman addresses the man she is speaking to as ‘Bhule’.
To verify the authenticity of the story, FactCheckZW searched for any stories in the United Kingdom and other local mainstream media to see if there were any reports of £200 000 being stolen or Zimbabweans being arrested for a Coventry robbery recently.
There were no such reports. The only reports were from online publications – all citing @KingJay as their source.
FactCheckZW reached out to @KingJay to see if he could shed any light on the identities of the people in the video; the source of the video or any arrest related to the ‘stolen £200 000’. King Jay said he did not have any details and had gotten the video from what he referred to as his ‘sauce’. He said the only information he had was that one of the individuals was called ‘Shingi’. He promised to see if he could find any other information that could help verify the authenticity of the story.
Verification Tips
Just because something is on video and there are voices that can be heard, does not mean that a story is authentic.
In this instance, the video itself might be authentic but the context could be misleading.
- Check other trusted media sources – it is important to cross check with other mainstream media sources to verify a story. In this case, a £200 000 heist would unlikely go unreported. Especially if there was a video of people boasting, which led to their arrest. Coventry newspapers have covered lesser crimes here and here.
- Check the details – the articles claim that ‘a group of Zimbabweans has found themselves in handcuffs after allegedly carrying out a daring £200,000 money heist in the United Kingdom (UK)’. There are no details of who the men are, where the money was stolen, which police arrested them or where, nor any pictures of the arrest. All the details on the story are made up from that one tweet by a user.
- Does the video match the details – in this case, it does not. The articles allege that the Ndebele language used ‘leave the identity of the thieves in no doubt’. However, the conversation and the video are not in sync. There is no evidence in the video that the voice over conversation is happening at that time.
Conclusion
The claim that ‘a group of Zimbabweans has found themselves in handcuffs after allegedly carrying out a daring £200,000 money heist in the United Kingdom (UK)’ has been rated as false. There is no evidence of a group of Zimbabweans stealing £200 000 in Coventry, UK and being arrested for it. The stories are based on an unverified tweet by a user who has said he can not vouch for the authenticity of either the video or the story, but only posted as received from his ‘sauce’.
