Social media pioneers circulated an image showing an attempt to smuggle alcoholic beverages into Qatar, to facilitate their entry into the stadiums hosting the World Cup matches.
The authorities in Doha had announced, two days before the opening ceremony of the World Cup on November 20, that alcohol would be banned in the vicinity of the stadiums, and the beer selling centers around the stadiums would be removed and restricted only to the fan areas, and it also became available to people who purchased expensive hospitality packages that provide closed rooms inside the World Cup stadiums. .
newspaper said,Wall Street JournalThe “last-minute” decision to ban the serving of beer outside the Qatar World Cup stadiums “came directly from the royal family in the emirate,” the Gulf, after growing concern among conservative Qataris on this issue.
Social media was filled with pictures and video clips of some fans devising different methods to bring alcoholic beverages into stadiums, without verifying their authenticity.
Among the pictures that have spread recently in this regard, one claimed that Qatari security men were able to seize large quantities of beer that were wrapped in wrappers with the logo of soft drinks in a way that was difficult to detect.
But the agency’s information and fact-checking departmentAssociated PressHe stressed that this image is old and has nothing to do with the Qatar World Cup.
According to the US agency, this picture dates back to 2015, when one of those arriving in Saudi Arabia through the Al-Bathaa border crossing with the United Arab Emirates tried to smuggle a large amount of beer cans, amounting to 48 thousand cans.
And that person had sought to smuggle it in an innovative way, so that “Pepsi drink” stickers were placed on beer cans.
The director of customs at Al-Bathaa port at the time explained that a consignment had arrived to them carried on one of the trucks that were presented to customs with the intention of crossing to a neighboring country “transit”.
Upon checking the consignment data and before starting the usual inspection and inspection process, it was found that it was indicated in the transit declaration that the consignment carried consisted of “soft drinks”.
During the inspection procedures on the truck and its cargo, it was found that the soft drink logo on the cans was nothing but stickers that were placed in a very tight factory way on these cans, which turned out to be beer cans.