Cops dressed up as Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor smash drug ring in Peru

At first, the drug dealers thought it was a joke when Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor showed up at their house on Halloween in Peru.

But bafflement quickly turned to horror as they released that the ‘superheroes’ were not locals playing a prank on them – instead, they were four police officers dressed in disguise who were there to arrest them as part of a major drugs bust.

Three of the Avengers – Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor – were joined by Catwoman in a blending of the Marvel and DC Comics books for the undercover police operation in Peru’s capital of Lima.

The operation, dubbed ‘Marvel’, saw the four disguised police officers walking nonchalantly down a street while pretending to be doing promotion for a Halloween concert in the San Juan de Lurigancho neighbourhood of Lima on Saturday.

But upon arriving at a specific house, Captain America borrowed Thor’s hammer to break down a steel door, allowing 10 backup police officers to enter and arrest three men and a woman.

At first, the drug dealers thought it was a joke when Spider-Man, Captain America and Thor showed up at their house on Halloween in Peru

A drug trafficker is arrested by a Peruvian police officer dressed as Spiderman during an undercover operation in Lima on October 31

But they soon realised that it was no joke when Spider-Man began pinning one man to the floor

The occupants, taken by surprise, at first thought it was a Halloween joke, police said in a statement on Tuesday.

But they soon realised that it was no joke when Spider-Man began pinning one man to the floor.

‘In this building an entire family was dedicating themselves to the micro-commercialization of drugs. The drugs were going to be sold in a park nearby,’ said police Colonel David Villanueva.

Police seized 3,250 small packages of basic cocaine paste – a crude extract of coca leaf – as well as 287 bags of cocaine and 127 of marijuana.

One kilo of cocaine paste sells for roughly $380 (£330) in Peru, while a kilo of cocaine hydrochloride, the purest form, sells for about $1,000 (£869).

Locals crowded outside the house as they watched in astonishment at Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor and Catwoman – all now wearing police vests – led the four handcuffed suspects out to a police vehicle.

See also  Bombshell report: Was Covid caused by a lab leak after all?

Police seized 3,250 small packages of basic cocaine paste – a crude extract of coca leaf – as well as 287 bags of cocaine and 127 of marijuana

The tactic of launching raids, particularly to take down drug gangs using operatives in costumes, is a common tactic of Peruvian police to assure the element of surprise which, they police say, has brought some notable successes in recent years. 

In 2020, Peruvian police drugs-squad members disguised as Santa Claus and an elf swooped into a house in Lima – not to deliver gifts but to capture a suspected cocaine and dope dealer as part of an anti-drug operation.

The agents, dressed in red, white and green outfits with flak jackets hidden underneath, arrived in an undercover van before breaking into the house with a large hammer to apprehend their suspect.