BREAKING NEWS – Elves from North Pole Security launched early this morning from the North Pole and headed for a location in France. There they conducted a raid in a search for Santa.

They did not find him.

Instead they frightened a 54-year old clockmaker who stands just under six feet tall and who wears a long white beard.

“I am NOT Santa Claus!” the man said after elves left him to address the media. “They burst into my home this afternoon singing “We found Santa!” and I’m NOT Santa.”

Red-faced elves in the North Pole Flight Command Center are yet to unlock the doors over there to explain themselves.

Shortly after the elves returned Santa posted a message on the North Pole community website that reads:

“Ho, ho, ho, boys….I’m not in France. Love, Santa”.

Where Santa is at this time remains a mystery. With the official start to Operation Merry Christmas now less than two weeks away elves are getting annoyed that they have not yet been able to locate Santa.

— Elf Ernest