This gives a whole new meaning to cross-border infiltration, but it’s not clear if it will add a feather in the cap of the Punjab police.
In an era of spy planes and satellites, the Amritsar (rural) police have detained a white pigeon that could have been –– the police claim –– used as a
Pakistani spy.
The pigeon was reportedly spotted in Ramdas, a tiny town close to the Indo-Pak border, with a Pakistani stamp imprinted and a Pakistani phone number written on its feathers.
Excited residents took the bird to the nearest police station. The pigeon’s fate will be decided once officials there decide what to do with it.
With news of the low-tech ‘spy’ spreading, the police have kept the bird in a special cage. It was earlier simply locked in a room.
“The people of the area had come with the pigeon that had a Pakistani stamp and telephone number on it,” said Jagjit Singh, station house officer of Ramdas police station.
Pigeon races are known to be held across the border, and it was possible that this particular pigeon took a longer route in one such race and lost its way, a police official suggested.
“It is a very initial stage (of investigation), and we cannot rule out anything, including spying (or) if someone is using the tribal method (of using pigeons to pass messages),” said SSP, Amritsar (rural), Gurmeet Singh Chauhan.