Officers from Grupo Terna raided a suspected drug den in the San Juan de Miraflores district of Lima after disguising themselves as a student wearing a school uniform and a patient in a wheelchair. During the operation, the officer posing as a patient suddenly stood up and used a sledgehammer to smash open the front door. Meanwhile, the officer dressed as a schoolchild climbed the upper floors to secure the building.
The raid resulted in the detention of three suspects and the seizure of more than 2,200 packets of cocaine paste. In an earlier operation, two Peruvian police officers disguised as the World Cup mascots Clutch and Maple helped arrest a suspected drug dealer in Lima. Colonel Carlos Alcantara, head of the Green Squadron, a unit focused on combating common crime, said the officers captured 48-year-old Carlos Cabrera on Thursday during the opening World Cup match between Mexico and South Africa.
“Thanks to intelligence work, we realized that this person was a diehard football fan and was caught up in World Cup fever,” Alcantara said. “Therefore, we decided to disguise personnel as World Cup mascots so we could approach him without raising suspicion and apprehend him.”
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The officers dressed as the mascots used a metal sledgehammer to break down a door before entering the premises with their colleagues. For the World Cup, Clutch is a bald eagle representing the United States, while Maple is a moose representing Canada. Mexico is represented by a jaguar named Zayu. Police said that 2,524 packets of cocaine base and a firearm were seized during the operation. In Peru, micro-trafficking of drugs carries a prison sentence of three to seven years when an individual is found in possession of five to 50 grams of cocaine base.
In previous operations, Peruvian police officers have also disguised themselves as fictional movie characters, including the Grinch, Freddy Krueger, Deadpool and Wolverine, as well as Santa Claus. These disguises were used to approach suspects without raising suspicion before making arrests.
