DERBYSHIRE, England — British undercover cops arrested 19 suspects by promising to give them free beer if they got in touch.
Police officers in Derbyshire, central England, sent letters to dozens of suspects who had evaded arrest for several months and told them to ring a marketing company to collect a free crate of beer.
Once they called the number they were unknowingly put through to police officers, who arranged a time and date for the beer to be delivered. But instead of collecting a free crate of beer, the suspects were arrested.
Some 19 suspects fell for the hoax, including people accused of robbery and sexual assault.
“These suspects are people who have managed to evade arrest for some time so we have used different tactics to find them,” Graham McLaughlin, from Derbyshire Police, said.
“It has been very cost effective as it can take a lot of time and money to track people down,” he added.