‘Spy’ pigeon jailed in India: report

PATHANKOT, India: A pigeon bearing a stamped message with a wire-like object on its body made Indian authorities question its flight into the village of Pathankot.
The bird landed on the mud brick house of Ramesh Chandra, a barber, in Manwal village, four kilometres from Pakistan’s border. Suspicions were aroused by the Urdu markings which were reported to the nearest police station by Chandra’s son.
A part of the message was in Urdu, but the numbersappeared to be that of a landline telephone in Pakistan’s Narowal district. “Unfortunately, mobile phones rarely work in the border areas. My son ran to the nearest police post,” Chandra said.
The bird was then taken to a veterinary hospital in Pathankot for an X-ray which did not reveal any clues.A diary entry was made at Bamiyal police station terming the bird as a “suspected spy”, after which it was communicated to BSF and IB.“Nothing adverse has been found, but we have kept the bird in our custody,” said Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rakesh Kaushal.