A VIRAL post circulating on social media claims that a police officer named “Mr. Anthony” single-handedly fought off 22 armed robbers, killing 21 of them and rescuing hostages during an armed assault.
The post features a video showing a police officer with the name tag “HANCE” on his uniform, along with footage of crowds celebrating him.
The claim was shared in an X post @Evadon_Trendz with the caption:
“Mr Anthony, a very a brave police officer , around 3pm a whole street was robbed by 7 armed men and he was the only one on duty, they started exchanging bullets, to cut it short he got 6 of those heavy armed men down, one out of them escape and went to re-enforce 15 new squad, still Mr Anthony didn’t run ,e protected all the civilians in that area and got another 15 armed men down ,they shut bazooka on the complex and they were ppl and baby’s in the complex, he rescued everyone, despite the heavy fire.God will continue to bless you sir”
As of 30 August 2026, the post has garnered over 2,300,000 views, over 8,000 and more than 46,000 likes.
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CLAIM
Post claims a police officer named Mr. Anthony single-handedly fought off 22 armed robbers and rescued hostages from a complex under fire.
FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
The FactCheckHub conducted a verification check on the officer’s identity using the official name tag and uniform insignia visible in the video. The officer depicted is Inspector Hance Atubra (not “Mr. Anthony”) of the Tarkwa Divisional Headquarters of the Ghana Police Service.
A reverse image search conducted revealed a video posted by Ghanapost on Instagram stating that a fire outbreak was reported at Tarkwa Aboso, and while fire services were called, the police office did everything he could to help with the outbreak. Further searches revealed that the incident had nothing to do with armed robbery or a shootout with a bazooka.
According to an official statement issued on X by the Ghana Police Service, Inspector Hance Atubra was honored and promoted to the rank of Chief Inspector by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Christian Tetteh Yohuno, for his role during the severe fire outbreak at Aboso in the Western Region of Ghana on 26 August 2026.
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According to reports, Inspector Atubra was the first police officer to arrive at the scene when shops at the Aboso Main Lorry Station caught fire. He took immediate action to evacuate trapped victims to safety and assisted in rescuing residents before fire service units arrived, earning praise from the community.
VERDICT
The claim that the video shows a police officer named Mr. Anthony fighting off 22 armed robbers is FALSE. The officer in the video is Inspector Hance Atubra of the Ghana Police Service, who was promoted for rescuing victims during a fire outbreak in Aboso, Ghana.
Seasoned writer and literary curator, Zainab Abdulrasaq is a factchecker for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached on IG @blackbookishgirl or zabdulrasaq@icirnigeria.org
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