Drugs police led by an officer dressed up as the Grinch raided a property in Peru where they captured three siblings, one known as the queen of the south, who were selling cocaine
‘The Grinch’ helps arrest suspects in Peru
Footage shows the moment a police officer dressed as the Grinch breaks into the home of cocaine dealers.
Police in San Bartolo, Peru, used the disguise to get close to the property where the clan were preparing thousands of wraps of the drug for partygoers.
Video footage of the surprise raid shows one officer climbing into the distinctive dayglo green Grinch costume complete with a Santa suit. Sharper-eyed crooks might have noticed the sledgehammer over his shoulder and the heavily armed Terna Squad cops following behind.
When they arrived at the address, the Grinch officer is seen hammering down the door before police stream into the home. Inside they found 1,280 wrapped up packages of cocaine ready for sale to users at Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties. Elsewhere they found cocaine paste ready for cutting and packaging.
Bizarrely at one point the Grinch cop, still in full costume, seems to be giving one of the three arrested suspects a finger-wagging telling off.
One of the suspects was identified as Eva Espinoza Maza, known as the queen of the south to drugs police, and she was arrested along with her siblings Norma Espinoza Maza, 24, and Fidel Espinoza Maza, 26.
Peruvian Nation Police Terna Squad head Colonel Carlos Lopez Aedo said: “Using the ingenuity and cunning of the Terna Group, we used the Grinch.” He continued: “The Green Squadron learned of a place where drugs were sold 24 hours a day. They raided the place and managed to arrest three siblings led by Eva Espinoza Maza, alias ‘the queen of the south’, a well-known drug trafficker, who was previously arrested three times for selling drugs in the same town, in San Bartolo.”
This is not the first time that agents from the Terna group have used disguises to arrest criminals. This year, in the district of Belén, Maynas, in the Loreto region, officers dressed up in traditional San Juan festivities to infiltrate the home of a family clan involved in drug trafficking.
Disguised as folk dancers and carrying instruments including flutes and drums they presented themselves as a dance group collecting money, going unnoticed as they approached the target home. This ingenious tactic allowed the agents to reach the residence used as a centre for the sale and consumption of narcotics without raising suspicion.
Upon arriving at the house, located on a main avenue, the officers dealt the final blow. With a kick, one of the officers broke the door, surprising those inside and during the search, the police found drug users and suspected drug dealers .