Rumours of kidnapping gangs on the prowl have been circulating widely on social media and messaging platforms over the past two months. A variant of these rumours claims that these gangs are involved in the organ trafficking business: they are said to abduct children in order to harvest their organs.

An incendiary audio clip has also been doing the rounds with, the message delivered in Hindi by a male voice. “The Tamil Nadu police found bodies of children inside a container,” it says. “Internal organs were removed from their bodies, like kidney and liver. Tamil Nadu police has said these children were abducted from various countries and brought here. Note: Take care of your children. Send this message to every group. Spread this photograph so much that this dog is caught. Who does not circulate this is not his/mother’s child. Send this to as many groups- 1, 2, 3, 4, or 25. This rascal must be caught.”

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Alt News is not posting the audio clip here owing to its provocative nature and scope for misuse. It has been shared along with a photograph showing bodies of children lying on the ground.

Several Alt News readers have requested verification of this image and the claim.

There are two aspects of the claim: the audio message and the photograph circulated along with it. Alt News had fact-checked this message earlier, when it was shared with the same photograph with which it has been circulated now. There is no truth to this claim. It is a rumour that has been circulating online since at least early 2017.

Alt News reverse-searched the image on Google and found that it pertained to a chemical attack in Ghouta, Syria, in August 2013 during the Syrian civil war, after the suburbs of Damascus were targeted with rockets containing the chemical agent Sarin.

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Alt News found the same photo in a blog from 2013.

The American fact-checking website Snopes had fact-checked this photo in 2016, when it was being shared with the false narrative of organ trafficking in Thailand.

This article first appeared on Alt News.