A video circulating on Facebook claims that a Manila-bound jet recently seized in Laos for drug smuggling is the same aircraft that transported former president Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague, Netherlands in March 2025. This claim is false.
On Oct. 9, a Facebook page reposted a video from the Malaysian news outlet The Star, which reported that the 521 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine found on a private jet bound for the Philippines originated in Laos, not Malaysia.
The FB page then linked the jet to Duterte’s arrest in 2025. It overlaid the following text to the reel:
“Familiar and private Jet na to. Same Jet na nagdala kay PRRD sa The Hague
(This jet looks familiar. It’s the same jet that took PRRD to The Hague).”
This is not true. According to local news reports, the chartered airplane that transported Duterte to the Netherlands in March 2025 was a Gulfstream G550 with tail number RP-C5219.
This plane is different from the one suspected of carrying illegal drugs. According to an Oct. 6 report by the Laos-based newspaper Vientiane Times, the police report identified the suspected aircraft as a Learjet with the tail code N73GP.
Lao Security News, another news outlet from Laos, first published photos of the seizure operation on Oct. 5, including an image of the private jet. A visual comparison shows that the two aircraft are not the same.
The false video surfaced days after Laotian authorities seized a jet at Luang Prabang International Airport over a suspected drug shipment declared as vape products. The jet, which flew from Malaysia, had three people on board: a Singaporean pilot, a Malaysian co-pilot, and a Filipino passenger.
As of writing, the reel with a false claim published by FB page Mark & Beyond 2.0 (created Aug. 3, 2026) has gained 100,000 views; 2,700 reactions; 471 comments; and 1,000 shares.
