Police who fought their way into a Rio slum to raid the luxury triplex of a Brazilian drug lord found themselves staring at a huge homemade mural of Justin Bieber on one wall.

And on another wall, amidst the Jacuzzis and flat-screen TVs, was a three-foot psychedelic scrawl of Bieber’s name.

The mural had two holes knocked into it during the raid, which found six tonnes of drugs and a huge cache of weapons. Drug lord Pezao, known as Bigfoot, hid his loot in the walls. Who would think to look behind Bieber?

A kind of Modigliani rendition of the Stratford-born superstar, it reads: Justin Bieber. One Time.

The place was empty when police arrived, television station R7 said.

One Latino gossip site suggested this was how he tortured his victims.

More than 2,500 heavily armed police swarmed a shantytown in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, where 500 to 600 drug traffickers were holed up. At least 50 people had died in the gun battles leading to the raid.

Bigfoot left behind no clue as to his favourite Bieber song. “Stuck in the Moment,” perhaps? “Never say Never?”

Or maybe the lyrics from Baby: “Just shake me till you wake me from this bad dream. I’m going down, down, down, down.”

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