Police in India arrested a pigeon bearing mysterious "Pakistani markings" Wednesday on suspicion of espionage. The white pigeon was captured in a village in Pathankot district, which is at the border of India and Pakistan.
"This is a rare instance of a bird from Pakistan being spotted here. We have caught a few spies here. The area is sensitive, given its proximity to Jammu, where infiltration is quite common," a senior police officer Rakesh Kausha told The Times of India on Friday.
The bird landed on the house of barber Ramesh Chand in a border village on Wednesday. Chand's 14-year-old son took the bird to the nearest police station after noticing suspicious Urdu language markings.
"Unfortunately, mobile phones rarely work in the border areas. My son ran to the nearest police post," Chandra said.
Pathankot district police had X-rayed the pigeon to check whether it was carrying anything suspicious. "We sent the bird to a polyclinic where X-ray scans were done to see if there is any spy camera, transmitter or hidden chip," a local police officer said, the Agence France Presse reported.
Police lodged an official diary entry at Bamiyal Police Station, terming the bird as a suspected "spy." The bird has Shakargarh and Narowal written on its body in English, as well as some numbers and words in Urdu. Shakargarh is a town in Narowal district in Pakistan's Punjab province near the border, The Indian Express reported.
Unfortunately, the X-ray did not reveal any clues. "Nothing adverse has been found, but we have kept the bird in our custody," Kaushal told The Times of India.
"We can't trust the hostile neighbouring country, so we have to verify. We are investigating the matter and have alerted the intelligence and security agencies, including the Border Security Force (BSF)," Kaushal told The Hindustan Times.
