Rio de Janeiro police in Brazil wore masks and fancy dress costumes including Captain America, Batman, and characters from popular series and films, blending in as tourists during the Carnival. They then staged a plan to arrest mobile phone thieves red-handed. One suspect pretended to be pregnant to deceive the officers.
Brazilian police revealed an operation during Rio de Janeiro's Carnival where undercover officers dressed in fancy costumes and masks of famous characters such as Captain America, Batman, Jason Voorhees from the "Friday the 13th" films, as well as red bear suits and masks from the series Money Heist. They mingled with tourists to monitor criminals who often blend in during the festivities.
The arrest took place in the Santa Teresa neighborhood after officers used drones to patrol and spotted suspicious behavior by a woman who took advantage of the crowd to steal a tourist's mobile phone, then passed it to a male accomplice. Officers in fancy dress who had been waiting nearby moved in immediately to make the arrest.
Upon inspection, five confiscated mobile phones were found, which the police will return to their owners. Shockingly, the two suspects have a combined total of 30 criminal cases. During the arrest, the female suspect attempted to fake a pregnancy to persuade officers to release her, but this was unsuccessful.
Police stated that this arrest was part of "Operation Tracking," a state-level initiative focused on suppressing theft and resale of mobile phones. So far, this program has recovered more than 13,000 devices and returned about 4,400 to their rightful owners.
This is not the first time Latin American police have used fancy dress in operations. Peruvian police pioneered this trend, disguising themselves as "teddy bears" carrying balloons to surprise drug dealers on Valentine’s Day, as well as dressing as "Spiderman" to raid targets and find drugs hidden in snack containers on Halloween. They have also disguised themselves as "The Grinch," "capybaras," and various Marvel superheroes to catch criminals off guard.
This year's Rio Carnival began last Friday and will continue until Saturday, 21 February, with an expected attendance of millions amid heightened security measures in all forms.
. . .BBC