Pages on social media circulated a report claiming that the Saudi authorities had foiled a drug smuggling attempt involving a bus carrying a Syrian registration plate, and that the bus belonged to Hazem al-Sharaa, the brother of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The fact-checking team reviewed the official statement issued by the Saudi Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, and it emerged that the authority had announced the foiling of an attempt to smuggle 36,773 amphetamine pills hidden inside a bus arriving through the Al-Haditha crossing, without the statement containing any reference to the nationality of the bus plate, its owner, or the name Hazem al-Sharaa, nor any mention of the bus entering from Turkey or any similar details to those stated in the claim.
Why is this claim misleading?
An incorrect connection: The claim relied on a genuine seizure announced by the Saudi authorities, then added to it details about the nationality of the bus plate and the identity of its owner that the official statement does not contain, in order to suggest a link between the smuggling operation and the family of the Syrian president.
