Merry Christmas! 'Santa' and his helpers undertake an unusual drug bust in Peru

It was indeed a Christmas surprise for a gang of drug dealers when Santa and a bunch of elves paid them a visit in Peru. However, it took a nasty turn when they broke down their door, cuffed them and seized their merchandise.

The unusual bust announced Monday had agents disguised as Santa and his little helpers who entered an unsafe neighbourhood of Lima called Surquillo on Saturday, police official David Villanueva told Peruvian TV.

"It being Christmas, a Santa in the street does not attract much attention, and we used this to our advantage for this operation," said Villanueva.

They took a stroll down a street and suddenly stopped at a house. One of the "elves" broke down the front door of the house with a huge hammer and the group forced their way inside.

The drug dealers were ordered to freeze and lay down on the floor. However, the suspects, three men and a woman, didn't take it seriously and thought they were being pranked, said Villanueva.

The bust was ironically named "The fall of the Chicago Grinch", based on the fictional green monster that stole Christmas and Surquillo's nickname of "Little Chicago" in an apparent reference to the violent gangs that ran the American city in the 1920s.

Around 6,000 small packets of cocaine paste, 104 of cocaine powder and 279 of marijuana were seized, the police said.

One kilogram of cocaine paste sells for about $380 in Peru and a kilo of powder, the purest form, for about $1,000.

Peru is one of the world's biggest cocaine producers, alongside Colombia and Bolivia.

(With inputs from agencies)

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