"Allah, what is happening. Protect us," reads part of the Bengali-language caption to the clip shared on Facebook on February 27, 2025.
The video, which has been viewed more than 100,000 times, apparently shows masked men stopping a motorcyclist at gunpoint on a busy road before fleeing with the bike.
"Bike looted in broad daylight from Hatirjheel," text overlaid to the video further claims, referring to a busy lakeside area in Dhaka.
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Screenshot of the false post taken on March 18, 2025
Similar posts also surfaced on Facebook as Bangladesh grapples with increased crime rates since Hasina was forced from power (archived link).
Under her watch, Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies faced accusations of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
Police in Dhaka said the number of robberies has doubled since January 2024.
Comments to the posts indicate users believed the clip depicts a genuine daylight robbery.
"There is no law and order in the country now," one wrote while another said: "Now you realize what Sheikh Hasina was for this country."
Awareness video
However, a reverse image search of the video's keyframes found it corresponds to longer footage shared on Facebook on February 27, 2025 (archived link).
"This is an awareness raising video created to inform people about the current situation in the country. Please do not take it as fact," reads the caption.
Visuals from the first 30 seconds of the longer video match the falsely shared clip, with the latter horizontally flipped.
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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (L) and the longer footage from Facebook
At the 1:28 minute mark of the longer video, a content creator can be heard saying: "We intended to make Pathao riders cautious about the present situation through this video."
Pathao is a ride-sharing app in Bangladesh (archived link).
AFP reached out to Facebook user Sakib Raj who confirmed he was one of the creators behind the clip.
"It was a scripted video we made to send a message to the bike ride sharers," he said on March 18.