Police officers in Brazil have gone viral on social media after they were spotted arresting a suspected thief in the middle of a carnival. With participants dressed in fancy dresses, the cops managed to stay undercover and pinned the suspect to the ground near Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo with onlookers chanting, “Power Rangers! Power Rangers!” and recording the incident.
As many as seven phones were recovered from the thief, according to Sao Paulo’s Governor Tarcisio Gomes de Freitas.
“It’s morphin’ time!” wrote Mr De Freitas on X (formerly Twitter) before adding: “The Power Rangers of our Civil Police are putting on another show this carnival! Always vigilant, our heroes noticed the suspicious behavior of a duo within the crowd and with an approach no ranger could fault, they arrested the criminal and recovered seven cell phones in one go.”
Footage shared by the governor showed the red, blue, yellow, and green Power Rangers, wearing body-hugging colourful lycra costumes, monitoring the carnival while paying homage to the 1990-era show. Meanwhile, a fifth Power Ranger — dressed in black, showcased the recovered devices.
As per the cops, gangs specialising in thefts and robberies often take advantage of large crowds during the carnivals. However, the strategy of disguising undercover police as partygoers had led to a significant decline in festival-related crimes.
É HORA DE MORFAR! Os Power Rangers da nossa Polícia Civil estão dando mais um show neste Carnaval! Sempre atentos, nossos heróis perceberam a atitude suspeita de uma dupla dentro do bloco e com uma abordagem pra nenhum ranger colocar defeito, prenderam o criminoso e recuperaram… pic.twitter.com/Foxk2j4VlN
— Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas (@tarcisiogdf) March 2, 2025
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Capybara cops
This is not the first instance of cops using novel and creative methods to nab suspects. On Valentine’s Day, a police officer in Peru’s capital Lima, carried out a drug raid while wearing a capybara costume and recovered 1,700 packages of cocaine and marijuana.
Peru’s Escuadron Verde – a specialist anti-drugs unit carried out the operation using the rather unconventional method.
“On this occasion, Valentine’s Day, lover’s day, we sought to camouflage ourselves with the character of the capybara,” unit leader Colonel Pedro Rojas said at the time.
The same unit has previously dressed their officers up as Marvel characters like Spiderman, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow whilst carrying out the drug raids.
