Thai police, disguised as lion dancers, arrest a man accused of stealing Buddhist artefacts during Lunar New Year festivities in Sai Noi district.

Police officers in Thailand have gone viral on social media after they disguised themselves in a lion costume to arrest a man accused of stealing Buddhist artefacts. The officers hid inside the red-and-yellow costume during this week's Lunar New Year festivities, whilst tailing the suspect after responding to reports of burglary.

The 33-year-old suspect is accused of stealing items worth two million baht (Rs 58 lakh), which included two 12-inch Buddha statues, according to a report in The Guardian. After garnering a few leads, the officers kept a close watch near the temples in Sai Noi district where the suspect planned to meet his associates.

Posing as members of a traditional lion dance troupe, the officers managed to blend in and avoid detection. The officers danced and swayed to the beat of the drums to keep up the appearances, but soon tackled the suspect to the ground as his identity was confirmed.

“Officers gradually moved closer to the suspect before arresting him,” police said.

As the video of the arrest went viral, social media users praised the Thai police for coming up with the innovative idea to catch the culprit.

Previous Instances

Earlier this week, police officers in Brazil dressed as characters from "Scooby Doo" to bust a gang of cellphone thieves. The four undercover police officers in Sao Paulo were dressed as Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Fred and Daphne from the popular cartoon show where the characters often ended up catching the bad guys after a long but adventurous chase.

The Scooby gang cops arrested two women and a man, with one of the thieves carrying at least eight stolen phones. The police officers managed to return the devices to their rightful owners before hauling the thieves to a Sao Paulo police station for further investigation.

On Valentine's Day last year, 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.