Police Wear Fancy Dress in Rio Carnival Phone Theft Sting

Brazilian police officers adopted an unusual strategy during Rio de Janeiro's famous Carnival festival. They disguised themselves in fancy dress costumes to blend in with the crowds and catch phone thieves in action.

The undercover officers wore masks depicting popular characters including Captain America, Batman, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, and costumes from the Netflix series Money Heist. Using this creative approach, they successfully apprehended two suspects who were working together to steal phones from festival attendees.

The operation was aided by drone surveillance, which spotted a woman grabbing a phone from a Carnival-goer before passing it to her male accomplice. Police recovered five stolen phones during the operation in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, which will be returned to their rightful owners.

The two arrested suspects had 30 criminal records between them. According to police, the woman even pretended to be pregnant in an attempt to avoid arrest. This operation is part of a larger state initiative called Operation Tracking, which focuses on combating mobile phone theft and resale.