Posts about Venezuelan drug users misuse Philadelphia clip
- Published on January 16, 2026 at 07:18
- 2 min read
- By Akshita KUMARI, AFP India
Ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges following his stunning capture by US forces in January 2026. Posts circulating online shared a video they falsely claimed showed drug addicts passed out on the streets in the oil-rich South American nation. In reality, the clip was filmed in the US city of Philadelphia and appeared in old reports about a dangerous sedative called xylazine.
"This is the state of Venezuela -- where, despite having the world's largest oil reserves, the entire country is either involved in drug trafficking or drowned in addiction," reads part of a Hindi-language X post that shared the footage on January 6, 2026.
US forces seized Maduro and his wife in a lightning raid in Caracas on January 3, bringing to an end 12 years of increasingly authoritarian rule by the left-wing leader, whom Washington accused of running a cartel (archived link).
The couple were brought to New York City where they pleaded not guilty on charges of "narco-terrorism," importing tons of cocaine into the United States, and possession of illegal weapons (archived here and here).
The video was also shared on Facebook, Instagram and Threads but it was not shot in Venezuela, as the posts falsely claim.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes found the same footage published by the Australian news website news.com.au in a September 13, 2023 report about people using the sedative xylazine in the Kensington neighbourhood of Philadelphia (archived link).
The tranquillizer, also called the "zombie drug", is approved for veterinary use by the US Food and Drug Administration, but has infiltrated the illegal drug market, with producers increasingly using it to augment fentanyl (archived link).
The video was credited to a TikTok account called "thebizzleeffect," which posted it on September 4, 2023 (archived link).
AFP reached out to the TikTok user and to the Philadelphia police department but no responses were forthcoming (archived link).
British tabloid Daily Mail also published the footage alongside similar descriptions (archived link).
Google Maps Street View imagery confirms the location of the video as Philadelphia, where corresponding shops and stores are visible (archived here and here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about Maduro's capture here.
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