Estela Silva / LUSA
André Ventura, during the VI Chega National Convention
Video shows the arrest of a robber in the shopping center last Sunday – but the video is more than a year and a half old.
Several social media accounts shared a video that allegedly shows the “man [que] he was detained [no domingo] after having a goldsmith shop was robbed in Vasco da Gama crowded”.
In total, the video already has millions of views. It shows five security guards restraining and escorting a young man dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, apparently under arrest.
Part of these images were also shared by the president of Chega, André Ventura, in identical posts on various social networks, where they have been viewed more than 2.7 million times.
In this version of the video, which includes Chega’s graphics, a dramatic song and a first part filmed outside Vasco da Gama where you see a group of security guards kicking the alleged suspect, André Ventura, who the “shameless thief should have taken even more corrections to see if he learns to respect us and respect public order!”.
None of the accounts mention the origin of the images, but content analysis and reverse research allow us to see that they relate to two distinct moments and that the first part of the video shared by André Ventura is in fact related to the arrest of the suspect in the robbery of a goldsmith shop on Sunday, given that there are other images from the same moment.
These images were also shared by the media and show that the detainee was still dressed in the dark jacket with a light collar and the gray pants that he wore during the robbery and that are visible in the first known images.
No TikTok
Later, André Ventura himself posted this video of the arrest by the PSP, but only on Tiktok, with the caption “I bet he’ll be out in 2 hours” and the comment “this guy had to be punished so he would never do a joke like that again!!!”:. In fact, the man was placed in preventive detention.
The approximately 10 seconds that show the young man detained and accompanied by five security guards on one of the floors of Vasco da Gama have no relationship with the robbery of the goldsmith shop.
This video has been circulating at least since March 23, 2024 with indication that it was related to an attempted robbery in a shoe store in the same location, a theory that has not yet been possible to confirm.
On Monday afternoon, Lusa Verifica informed Chega’s communications office about the origin of these images and questioned whether André Ventura intended to maintain the misleading publications that identify another person as the goldsmith’s robber, but has not yet received a response nor have the publications been eliminated or corrected.
Therefore, it is false that the video circulating on social media showing five security guards at the Vasco da Gama shopping center detaining a young man is the arrest of the suspect in the robbery of a goldsmith shop that occurred on Sunday in that shopping center. In fact, these images refer to another incident recorded more than a year and a half ago.
