Viral image of Indian telecom engineer arrested by Bahraini intelligence for passing sensitive data to Israel’s Mossad

RATING JUSTIFICATION

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan analysed the image and ran it through forensic analysis tools to assess its authenticity.

Multiple Pakistani accounts and several news outlets on March 10, 2026, shared an image allegedly showing Bahraini intelligence arresting an Indian telecom engineer for passing sensitive data to Israel’s Mossad. However, the image is AI-generated and the claim of the arrest is unsubstantiated.

Israel and the United States launched joint military strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and other top officials. Tehran responded by launching strikes on US bases and other facilities in seven Gulf states and Israel.

As the war entered its 10th day, there has been no letup in attacks by Israel, Iran or the US, with explosions reported in Qom and Tehran, hours after Israeli attacks on oil facilities caused toxic smoke across the Iranian capital. On the other hand, Iran’s Assembly of Experts has named Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s new supreme leader.

Amid the conflict, far-right commentator Tucker Carlson claimed on his podcast that Saudi Arabia and Qatar had arrested Mossad agents over planting bombs in Gulf countries. Qatar’s foreign ministry had subsequently said that it had no information about any such Mossad cells.

HOW IT STARTED

On March 10, an account, which appears to be pro-military based on his past posts, shared an alleged image of an Indian telecom engineer with the following caption: “Breaking: Bahraini intelligence arrests Indian telecom engineer for passing sensitive data to Israeli Mossad. Authorities in Bahrain have detained an Indian national, Nitin Mohan, a telecommunications engineer, for transmitting sensitive geospatial data, photographs, and video reconnaissance of strategic locations to Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence service.”

The caption further stated, “According to preliminary reports, the suspect shared site imagery and operationally relevant information that could support foreign intelligence analysis and targeting assessments. The Ministry of Interior Bahrain, has confirmed the arrest but has not yet released further technical or investigative details regarding the case.”

The post gained one million views.

It was also shared by Supreme Court Press Association President Tayyab Baloch.

Other users on X widely shared the same image with similar captions, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here; collectively gaining more than 1m views.

The same claim with a similar caption in Arabic was also shared by a Saudi user on X, gaining 1m views. It was circulated in Arabic on X by others as well, as can be seen here and here, gaining over 60,000 views.

The same image, along with similar claims, was widely shared by several traditional and digital media outlets in reports and on their channels, including state broadcasters Associated Press of Pakistan and Pakistan TV on Facebook and X, Express News, Samaa, DawnNewsTV, Azer News, ARY News, Roze News TV, Startup Pakistan, 24 News, Suno News, Daily Pakistan, Dekhlo, Daily Times, TechJuice, Aik News, Daily Ausaf, Minute Mirror and Dunya News.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in any alleged Indian role in Iran’s conflict with the US and Israel.

Reviewing the Facebook and Instagram pages of Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior to check whether it had announced or posted about any such individual’s arrest yielded no results.

Reviewing the ministry’s Instagram account showed that it had shared two posts related to the security efforts of the Anti-Narcotics Department and the General Directorate for Research and Criminal Investigation. In both posts, the ministry did not publicly reveal the identities of the alleged individuals; instead, their faces were blurred.

This is different from the viral image that shows the individual’s face without any blurring.

Comparing the official posts from the ministry with the viral image also revealed several other discrepancies.

In the original posts, the left side contains English text followed by a red line, after which additional text appears. This formatting is missing in the viral image. Similarly, on the right side of the original post, Arabic text appears, followed by a red line and additional text, which is also absent in the viral image.

Another major discrepancy was observed in the logo. The alignment of the sword in the viral image differs from that in the original posts. Moreover, the text in the logo of the viral image appears to be gibberish rather than legible Arabic, making it difficult to read.

Further variation can also be seen in the designs for the guard and pommel of the sword in the logo.

The logo in the original posts matches the official one shared by the ministry in a separate Instagram post.

The image was subsequently analysed using various AI-detection tools, which flagged it as AI-generated. TruthScan identified the image as 98 per cent AI-generated, while Undetectable AI indicated that it was only 2pc likely to be real. AIorNot also flagged the image as AI-generated content.

Additionally, keyword searches for news reports from credible mainstream international, Bahraini, Israeli and Indian media outlets yielded no coverage of the alleged incident.

Similarly, a keyword search and reverse image search for the alleged individual, Nitin Mohan, also yielded no results.

Instead, a March 10, 2026, X post by India’s Ministry of External Affairs rubbished the matter as “fake news”. India’s Press Information Bureau also dismissed the claim as “fake”.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that a viral image shows an Indian telecom engineer arrested by Bahraini intelligence for passing sensitive data to Israel’s Mossad is false.

The image is AI-generated and there is no evidence for any such alleged incident.

EVIDENCE AND REFERENCES

February 5, 2026, Bahrain Ministry of Interior Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/moi_bahrain/p/DUX8qWBCEzN/

February 16, 2026, Bahrain Ministry of Interior Instagram post:

https://www.instagram.com/moi_bahrain/p/DU09kQujeeH/

March 10, 2026, India Ministry of External Affairs X post:

https://x.com/MEAFactCheck/status/2031298244786139473