Old Photo Shared as Fans Smuggling Alcohol During FIFA World Cup

Qatar has banned the sale of beer at 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums.

Fact-Check | An old, unrelated photograph from Saudi Arabia has gone viral with a false claim around the FIFA world cup.

(Photo: The Quint)

A photograph showing a person removing the cover from a soft drink can to unveil a can of beer has gone viral linking it with the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup.

What is the claim?: The claim along with the viral image states that football fans are smuggling alcohol into the stadium by masking beer cans with soft drink labels.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

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

What is the truth?: The viral image is from 2015, when customs officials in Saudi Arabia had confiscated 48,000 cans of beer that were being smuggled into the country by disguising them as Pepsi.

How did we find that out?:

• We conducted a keyword search on Google and found the image in an article in the BBC, published on 12 November 2015.

A link to the story can be found here. 

• According to the report, Saudi police had stopped smugglers at the border who were trying to carry 48,000 cans of beer disguised as Pepsi.

• Alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia.

• The story was also reported in other publications such as Dawn, Al Arabiya, Vice etc.

What about alcohol in Qatar?:

• While it's not illegal to drink alcohol in Qatar, the country banned the sale of beer at World Cup stadiums despite agreeing to it earlier.

Conclusion: An old, unrelated photograph from 2015 was shared as football fans smuggling alcohol into stadiums in Qatar during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

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