A few days before Christmas, on a street in the Peruvian city of Lima, a Santa Claus walks and sends Christmas greetings to pedestrians.
Walking to the door of a house, Santa Claus suddenly took out a sledgehammer and smashed the door with a few clicks.
(Santa Claus: Eighty, Eighty, Eighty...... ）
At the same time, a group of men dressed in green rushed up to the second floor of the house with ladders, and after a while, two men were escorted down.
It turns out that Santa Claus is not here to give gifts this year, but to "check the water meter......
(Santa Claus Team)
Santa Claus is from a police group called the Green Squad, and the arrests were made by two drug dealers.
According to the police, both suspects had been arrested for armed robbery, and last week, they sold drugs to undercover police officers at least three times.
At their home, police seized 600 bags of cocaine paste (a crude extract of coca leaves), 150 bags of marijuana and 30 bags of cocaine.
A police spokesman said the operation was a great success and that "Christmas for the evil reindeer is over!"
(Drugs inspected)
Seeing this, some people may wonder, why do they still play cosplay when the police arrest people?
In fact, this is an old tradition of the Peruvian police.
Peru is one of the world's largest producers of coca leaf and cocaine.
In Peru, coca leaves can be used to "chew for energy" and "to treat altitude sickness", which are legal practices.
But according to the Peruvian government, 90 percent of the country's crops, known as coca leaves, are used to make drugs, and since 2015, the area under coca leaf cultivation has been increasing year by year.
(Coca leaf)
In order to fight with a large number of drug production and drug trafficking criminals hidden in Peru, the police came up with the idea of disguise.
First of all, it can draw public attention to their hard work, so as to spread the message to the public that they should not make and sell drugs.
In addition, dressing up during the festival is the least noticeable method.
Drug dealers may be in plainclothes to probe their brains, but who wants to watch out for Santa Claus swaggering through the streets during Christmas?
(After the mission, Santa Claus takes off his hood)
Finally, these outfits paralyze enemies.
After all, "Santa Claus is using a hammer to chisel the door of his house", and anyone who encounters this will be confused......
(Christmas Catch)
Although this method seems to be a bit "slippery", the Peruvian police have really solved many cases with this method:
In 2022, a group of Santa Claus and elves came to the door of a family.
(Santa Claus)
Santa Claus breaks down the door with a sledgehammer, and the elves rush in and take control of the four suspects, three men and one woman.
(The elf controls the prisoner)
In the end, the police seized 6,000 packets of cocaine paste, 104 packets of cocaine powder, and 279 packets of marijuana.
Until his arrest, the suspect thought it was a joke made by an acquaintance......
(Arrested Suspect)
On Christmas 2020, two police officers Cos, dressed as Santa Claus and elves, smashed open the door of a house in the Salvador villa area of Lima with a hammer.
(Santa Claus and the Elf)
Eventually, the drug dealer in the house was arrested,
(Santa Claus and the Elf)
In addition to a sack of marijuana, police also found firearms and drug paraphernalia.
(Arrested Suspect)
In addition to Christmas, Halloween is also a "good day" for captures.
In November 2022, police took to the streets dressed as Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, and Catwoman to blend in with the crowd of performers.
(Policeman in disguise)
Upon arriving at the drug den, Captain America smashes open the door with Thor's hammer (a nod to the plot of the movie?) and arrests the drug dealers inside.
Spider-Man stomped on a drug dealer and posed as a superhero.
(Spider-Man)
Drug dealers still think this is part of "trick-or-treating......
(Arrested drug dealers)
On October 31 of this year, the Peruvian police also took action, dressed as Freddie Kruger (from "Ghost Street"), Jason Warris (from "Friday the 13th") and Tiffany Valentine (from "The Ghost Bride") to break into a family suspected of drug trafficking.
(Policeman in disguise)
Eventually, they succeeded in apprehending the culprit and seized 1,568 packets of cocaine and a large amount of cash.
(Arrested drug dealers)
What to say, I don't know if these drug dealers will communicate in prison:
"Who caught you?"
"Santa Claus, what about you?"
"Ah, I let the American team catch ......"
"You're in luck!"