An Olympic Robbery: Argentina’s Football Stars Robbed. Are the culprits Indian? Read the fact check
A verified Twitter user, Kashmir English, shared an image of the Eiffel Tower alongside a shattered car window, claiming that four bandits of Indian origin attacked and robbed the Argentine football team at the Paris Olympics. The post stated that all four robbers were arrested by Paris police.
Fact Check
DFRAC examined the claim and after conducting a thorough digital search we found several articles posted by credible media houses like APNews, India Today, Anadolu Ajansi which suggests that the Argentine national football team did experience a theft incident before their Paris 2024 Olympics match, but the details differ significantly from the social media claim.
Head Coach Javier Mascherano, a former Barcelona and Argentina midfielder, confirmed that thieves entered their training facility on Tuesday. The primary target was player Thiago Almada, who had his belongings, including a watch and jewelry, stolen.
The incident occurred prior to Argentina’s match against Morocco, which they lost 2-1 at the Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Etienne, a French city near Lyon. Almada, a Botafogo midfielder, played in this match despite the theft. France’s BFMTV reported that the stolen items were valued at approximately €50,000. The team has file a formal complaint but there is no official information suggesting that the thieves were of Indian origin or that four individuals were arrested.
Argentina’s next match is scheduled against Iraq at Lyon Stadium on Saturday. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games’ opening ceremony will be held in Paris on Friday, with the Summer Games set to conclude on August 11.
Conclusion:
It is clear from DFRAC’s fact check that the claim of four Indian-origin bandits who robbed the Argentine football team and were arrested is false and misleading because a theft did occur at the team’s training facility, but the perpetrators’ identities and any arrests remain unconfirmed. Hence the claim is misleading.
