Fact-check: Baseless claims of foreign spies being arrested at Shaukat Khanum Hospital

Viral posts claim that four suspicious individuals were arrested from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, allegedly working as spies for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad and India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

These posts also accused the hospital of engaging in “anti-state” activities.

The claim is completely baseless.

Claim

On June 20, a Facebook user wrote in Urdu: “Four suspicious individuals have been arrested from Shaukat Khanum Hospital [SKMCH], and it is being alleged that they are agents of Mossad and RAW.”

The user further claimed: “This [SKMCH] is not a hospital but a base for the enemies of Pakistan.”

At the time of writing, the post had received over 400 likes and was shared 295 times.

Similar claims were also circulated on Facebook here and here.

Fact

The claims are false. No such arrests have been made, as confirmed by law enforcement officials in Lahore and Peshawar, as well as the senior management at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH).

Bakht Munir, the spokesperson for the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in Peshawar, told Geo Fact Check by phone that there have been no reported arrests of Mossad or RAW agents from SKMCH in Peshawar at all.

Tasswar Iqbal, the senior superintendent of police operations in Lahore, also denied the claim and confirmed no arrests had been made at SKMCH in Lahore.

While Khawaja Nazir, senior manager of media and public relations at SKMCH in Lahore, told Geo Fact Check over the phone that the claim is false.

He further stated that no such arrests had taken place at either the Lahore or Peshawar branches. Nazir added: “There is nothing like this in our knowledge, as this clearly looks like propaganda.”

No credible media outlet has reported any such arrests from Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in either city.

Verdict: Officials have confirmed that no arrests were made at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Lahore or Peshawar.

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