RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro police officers kitted themselves out as thieves from the series “Money Heist” and as Jason Voorhees from the “Friday the 13th” horror movie franchise to blend in with crowds celebrating Carnival and catch criminals stealing cellphones.
Carnival officially kicked off on Friday in Rio, and for many revelers participating in the megalopolis’ raucous, dazzling street parties, one of the biggest concerns is holding on to their phones — as thefts are all too common.
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A child performs on stilts during the Amigos da Onca Carnival street party, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
Revelers performs during the Amigos da Onca Carnival street party in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
A dog confronts another dog during the "Blocao" Carnival dog parade in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Raquel Poti performs on stilts during the Amigos da Onca Carnival street party, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
To tackle this phenomenon, officers in the Santa Teresa neighborhood Friday donned costumes to fly under thieves’ radar. The undercover agents noticed a woman snatching a cellphone from someone’s hand, followed her and saw her hand the device to an accomplice, Rio’s civil police said in a statement Saturday.
Police arrested the pair and found five cellphones in their possession.
That wasn’t the first time Brazilian police officers wearing costumes have sought to mingle with the crowds during festivities to catch wrongdoers.
Last Sunday, police officers dressed as characters from “Ghostbusters” caught a woman with 12 cellphones stolen in downtown Sao Paulo. A day prior, officers in alien outfits caught a man with three phones hidden under his clothing.
Cellphone thefts have declined overall in Brazil, according to the 2025 annual report by the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety think-tank. They dropped from approximately 980,000 per year in 2022 to some 850,000 in 2024.
But fear of both armed robberies and discreet pocketing of cellphones remains high, and opinion polls consistently show that violence and crime are Brazilians’ main concern.
A child performs on stilts during the Amigos da Onca Carnival street party, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
Revelers performs during the Amigos da Onca Carnival street party in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
A dog confronts another dog during the "Blocao" Carnival dog parade in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Raquel Poti performs on stilts during the Amigos da Onca Carnival street party, in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — England's 12-test winning streak was shattered by Scotland pulling out an astonishingly one-sided 31-20 victory at Murrayfield in the Six Nations on Saturday.
England was favored to win at Murrayfield for the first time since 2020, having developed a mighty bench and become well-drilled and confident during its longest winning run in nine years.
But English set-piece dominance was undone by sloppy handling in Scotland's 22, under pressure from having to play catchup after a scintillating Scottish start.
Conducted by a masterly Finn Russell, Scotland blasted off to 17-0 after 14 minutes, its speed and slickness twisting an overburdened England into knots.
“I thought that was some of the best rugby we’ve every played,” Scotland coach Gregor Townsend told ITV. “It’s all you want as a coach. I thought that was one of Finn Russell’s best games for Scotland and the work rate of our forwards was superb.”
England winger Henry Arundell received a 20-minute red card but his first yellow card was the most damaging. Scotland, emotionally up for the match against its oldest rival and out to redeem for a woeful loss to Italy last weekend, exploited Arundell's absence in the fast start.
It was too much for England to overcome. By the time of Arundell's second yellow card right on halftime, leading to the automatic red, Scotland was still up by 14. In his second absence, Scotland out-scored England only 7-3 though it was a second try for center Huw Jones and Scotland's bonus-point fourth and last try.
“We are bitterly disappointed at that first 20 minutes, the lead Scotland got ahead of us and playing for such a long period with 14 men,” England coach Steve Borthwick told the BBC.
“The way Scotland can move the ball to the edges without our winger it exposed us there and it gave us too much to do.”
Scotland and Townsend, on the occasion of his 100th test, were under fire all week after Italy humbled them 18-15 in Rome.
A sixth win (plus the epic draw in 2019) against England in nine matchups, all under Townsend, will quieten the growing clamor for him to resign, at least until Scotland's final position in the championship becomes clear.
“There has been a lot of talk about Gregor Townsend but his players really showed up today, they really performed and really played for Gregor today,” Borthwick said. “They don’t play like that in every single game."
Beating England has given Townsend's Scotland a best placing of only third, leading supporters to believe the victories, while celebrated, have been used by the team to gloss over poor campaigns.
Townsend didn't deny it: “We've given them something to shout about for the next 12 months.”
Against Italy, Scotland made no line breaks. Against England, it made 10 in the first half alone.
Arundell was coming off a hat trick against Wales but after he was sin-binned early for not releasing, Russell's one-handed flick on with Tom Roebuck in his face set up the opening try for Jones.
A Russell line break was followed by captain Sione Tuipulotu's huge pass to unmarked flanker Jamie Ritchie to stroll over.
Arundell returned from the sin-bin to score thanks to George Ford, who added a conversion and penalty, and England looked to be finding a foothold.
But Russell then switched the attack, stepped two defenders and chipped ahead. England prop Ellis Genge made a mess of grabbing the ball and Scotland scrumhalf Ben White took the gift over the tryline.
Right on halftime, Arundell took out leaping opposite Kyle Steyn and his second yellow card became a 20-minute red.
Ford started the second half with a penalty; he was perfect off the tee. But his drop goal attempt was charged down by Matt Fagerson, who collected the ball and let Jones race to the posts at the other end. It made Jones Scotland's top try-scorer in Six Nations history since 2000 (18), and the leading try-scorer against England (8) in the same period.
Russell went five for five in goalkicking, a year after his late missed conversion cost Scotland a fifth straight win over England.
England was consoled by a late converted try to No. 8 Ben Earl.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
Scotland's Huw Jones, right, celebrates scoring a try with teammates during the Six Nations rugby union match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)
Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu lifts the Calcutta Cup after winning the Six Nations rugby union match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)
Scotland's Finn Russell, center, in action during the Six Nations rugby union match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
Scotland's Huw Jones, right, scores during the Six Nations rugby union match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
Scotland's Ben White celebrates scoring a try during the Six Nations rugby union match between Scotland and England in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
