Fact-Check: Does China take control of an Indian in-service drone near the eastern border after it veers into Chinese territory? Here’s the Truth

A claim is doing the rounds on the social media platform X(formerly Twitter) alleging that China took control of an Israeli-origin Indian drone near the eastern border after it veered into Chinese territory. Pak-based Users have shared this claim, stating these facts.

Sharing a screenshot of a news article’s headline, an account named Foujeet wrote: “China takes control of an Israeli origin Indian drone near the eastern border after it veered into Chinese territory, briefly overriding its encrypted systems before returning it”

Furthermore, several users shared this claim and the same screenshot on X. The preview link can be seen here and here.

Fact-Check

The DFRAC team investigated this claim and found it to be fake and fabricated.

Conducting a Google keyword search concerning the above viral claim, we came across some of the latest reports published by India TV, The Statesman, and Business Standard.

According to these reports, the Indian Army has categorically denied reports suggesting that an Indian Army Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) veered into Chinese-controlled territory in the Eastern Theatre and was subsequently hacked by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

A report published by alphadefense. in claimed that an Indian drone, operating near the eastern sector of the Indo-China border, unexpectedly drifted into Chinese airspace. The article, which did not specify the exact date of the alleged incident, further claimed that the Chinese Army temporarily took control of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), operated it for a short duration, and then returned it to their Indian counterpart.The report also speculated that the drone in question was of Israeli origin, along with its data link and ground control station.

Further, the reports mentioned that in response to these claims, the Indian Army dismissed the article as “completely baseless and factually incorrect,” stating that no such incident had occurred, adding the statement given by a military source. The statement read: “We urge media houses and social media users to refrain from carrying unverified and misleading content, which could create unnecessary alarm and misinformation in the public domain. The Indian Army remains fully committed to the security and operational integrity of all its assets,”

Conclusion

It is clear from DFRAC’s fact-check that the viral claim shared by Pakistan-based handles seems fake and fabricated since the Indian Army has come forward and denies this claim as baseless and factually incorrect stating that no such incident had occurred.

Analysis: Fake