Young Thug Arrested in Busy Atlanta Mall

Young Thug's Christmas shopping got short-circuited by a pair of handcuffs -- he got busted in a fancy Atlanta mall, and how it went down is an amazing coincidence.

Officers perp-walked the rapper through Lenox Square Mall Thursday night, but law enforcement sources say the cops weren't even looking to arrest him. We're told officers had responded to a stolen vehicle report, and while walking through the mall looking for a suspect they bumped into Young Thug.

One of the officers recognized him and remembered he'd recently missed a court date -- for excessive window tinting -- and that was all she wrote for Thug. He was booked for the warrant and released after posting a $500 bond. If only he'd cyber-shopped.

Merry Christmas!

Fun fact: Thug's been hit with a lot of karma since that Alaska Air incident. Just sayin'.