How do you capture wanted criminals that keep avoiding arrest? You lure them with free beer, of course. Derbyshire police managed to snag 19 wanted criminals after they managed to trick them into meeting officers by baiting them with a free crate of beer.

The undercover officers decided on a strategy that saw them sending out letters to the last known addresses of a number of individuals who had consistently been evading arrest.

They simply asked them to phone a marketing company, whose number appeared on the letter, to collect a free crate of beer.

The targets were wanted in connection for a range of offences that included sexual assault, burglary and robbery.

All the assailants needed to do was to respond to the letter they’d received by calling the number on the letter, which coincidentally didn’t go through to the marketing company, but rather to police officers based at Chesterfield Police Station.

They were then told that all they needed to do to claim their free beer was to arrange a date and time for the alcohol to be dropped off at an agreed address.

Straight out of a Leon Schuster movie, instead of receiving their free beer at the designated drop-off time, the men found themselves confronted by smug officers, handcuffed and duly arrested.

Chief Inspector Graham McLaughlin:

These suspects are people who have managed to evade arrest for some time so we have used different tactics to find them. It has been very cost effective as it can take a lot of time and money to track people down.

We use a variety of methods to arrest those suspected of committing criminal offences and we will continue to use new tactics when necessary.

It’s probably a given that all 19 men will not be repeating their arrest stories to other inmates.

[Source: Telegraph]