Video shows drug bust in Liberia, not South Africa

“A Nigerian businessman based in South Africa was arrested for allegedly dealing in hard drugs,” reads an X post with more than 350 reposts and at least 700 likes.

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Screenshot of the misleading X post, taken on February 27, 2024

Published on February 24, 2024, the post includes a 10-minute video showing a man with his hands bound behind him. Other individuals in the room, also seemingly handcuffed, watch on as he protests his innocence.

Small, orange text at the top of the video reads: “A well-known spare part dealer (Nigerian National) that goes by the name “JAPAN” from Old Clara Town Bushrod Island was allegedly caught with huge amounts of illicit drugs in his compound in Sayon Town Community earlier today, Feb. 21. 2024 (sic).”

Clara Town and Sayon Town are settlements in Liberia's capital, Monrovia. 

A line of green text at the bottom of the clip asks if viewers think he’s innocent. The footage is credited to “Eben TV Live”.

Replies to the post were mixed: some said South African authorities were unfairly targeting the man because of his nationality while others doubted the events took place in South Africa.

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Screenshot of the post’s replies, taken on February 27, 2024

The claims about the man’s arrest for alleged drug dealing are partly accurate, but the suggested links to South Africa are unfounded.

Drug bust

A reverse image search on video keyframes using InVID WeVerify found that the footage was used in articles (here and here) and videos related to a case in Liberia (archived here, here and here).

According to the reports, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) raided premises in Sayon Town on February 21, 2024, apprehending several suspected drug dealers, including a Nigerian national called George Ikepehekwu Obi, who also goes by the street name “Original Japan”.

Police said the operations were an effort to combat drug-related crimes. 

Obi, the man filmed protesting in the video on social media, appears in news photographs and other media footage wearing the same patterned shirt.

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Screenshot of the video circulating (left) and a video report on the drug bust in Liberia (right)

The LDEA told AFP Fact Check that they have been “unable to authenticate authoritatively” any connections between the suspect and South Africa as claimed on X. 

“However, our intelligence sources have gathered that he has been heavily involved in the production, importation and trafficking of narcotics substances in Liberia, for which he was arrested,” LDEA spokesman, Michael Jipply, told AFP on February 29, 2024.

Jipply added that there have also been some inquiries about false claims that Obi was released from prison.

He said that Obi was still under pre-trial detention at the Monrovia South Beach Prison.

Meanwhile, Eben TV Live is a self-described news outlet based in Liberia that publishes various topics from entertainment to news on social media. The video shared on X was originally published on Eben TV Live's TikTok account without mentioning South Africa (archived here and here). 

AFP Fact Check contacted South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, commonly known as the Hawks, as well as the South African Police Service, who said they knew nothing of the matter or Obi.

Xenophobia

Human Rights Watch flagged xenophobic sentiment and violence against Africans and Asians as a concern in its 2024 report on South Africa ahead of elections set for May 29, 2024 (archived here and here).

AFP Fact Check has debunked many claims targeting African immigrants, and more recently specifically Nigerians.

Among them were false claims about unruly football fans overpowering South African police and a fabricated story of a woman arrested for using counterfeit money she had received from a Nigerian man.