Two London police officers donned some unorthodox Batman and Robin disguises to bust an illegal gambling ring in the city.
You’d think that making yourself appear as the Caped Crusaders would make you stand out from the crowd. But, when these officers needed to fool repeat offenders who knew what they looked like, they were the perfect disguise.
When it came time to bust a ring of illegal gambling that involved rigging games of chance and using them to steal from passers by, they knew they’d have to find some sort of disguise to make their approach and catch them.
One London Inspector by the name of Darren Watson remembered he had some Batman and Robin costumes in his closet. He roped in Police Constable Abdi Osman as Robin and set his plan in motion.
Officers bust gambling ring while disguised as superheroes
Police in London have been cracking down on illegal gambling operations, especially those that target tourists. People will set up on Westminster Bridge and invite others to play a game of chance, one that’s rigged in their favor, in order to get some easy money from people visiting from out of town.
It’s not the most serious of crimes, meaning that many who get caught in the act will simply get fined with a few days’ jail time. As a result, there are a number of repeat offenders. The people running these schemes have been doing it long enough that they know what local officers look like.
Considering the simple nature of these games, having scouts who recognize officers can give perps more than enough time to put everything away and escape. But the superhero disguises gave officers enough time to swoop in and catch them in the act.
“We know that two repeat offenders have been operating on Westminster Bridge and have come to recognize me and my team from our patrols,” explained Inspector Watson.
“I knew that if we were going to catch them we would have the think outside the box, and then I remembered that I had Batman and Robin costumes to hand which could come in use. Although dressing up may not be the most conventional policing method, we were thrilled to see that in this case it worked perfectly and the team were able to get some great results, taking these people off the street and protecting tourists and Londoners from being fleeced.”
Unfortunately for these officers, the cat’s out of the bag on their Batman and Robin disguise, meaning they’ll probably have to find a different outfit next time around.
This isn’t the only recent scamming bust with an odd story behind it, as a Vancouver man was arrested in a Pokemon card sting operation for using $10k worth of counterfeit cash to try and scam online vendors.
