North African countries along the Mediterranean coast have become a hotbed for migrants seeking a route to Europe. In February 2026, online posts circulating in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria claimed to show three men who were arrested in Algeria while trying to enter Spain disguised as sheep. But this is false; the images were created using artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
“These guys were arrested in Algeria as they tried to cross to Spain disguised as sheep. This should go into the Guinness World Book of Records as the innovation of the century!” reads a Facebook post published on February 20, 2026.
The post includes photos of police officers purportedly arresting three men dressed in sheep costumes. One image shows the woolly impersonators standing, and in another, they are kneeling.
A truck in the background appears to contain real sheep in transit.
Similar claims were shared thousands of times across TikTok, Instagram, X, YouTube, and several blogs, with some alleging the men were Nigerian.
The claims follow Spain’s approval of a plan on January 27, 2026, to legalise the stay of about 500,000 undocumented migrants (archived here).
In 2025, the Western Mediterranean Route became Spain’s main entry point, with more than 19,400 arrivals, according to the Mixed Migration Centre. Departures from Algeria dominated the route, despite not sharing a land border with Spain (archived here).
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