India claims nabbing another 'Pakistani spy pigeon'

Authorities prepare to conduct x-ray of the bird to rule out possibility of spy gadgets attached to it

India police said on Monday it will have x-rayed a pigeon it suspects was spying for Pakistan to rule out the possibility of any coded messages.

According to Times of India, police in Ajnala town of Amritsar district will have the bird examined to ascertain it does not have a tiny spying object embedded to its body.

The pigeon, the report said, was found near the check-post of Border Security Force (BSF) close to the border with Pakistan. It was later handed over to police for a probe.

The report went on to add that the conveying of coded messages through the bird is not a rare occurrence on the Punjab side of the border.



This is not the first time India has suspected pigeons of being used from the other side of the border for spying purposes.

In February 2017, the country claimed to have caught a "spy pigeon" it said came from Pakistan. The authorities later claimed it escaped to Pakistan due to police negligence.

Similarly, in May 2016, Indian authorities claimed that a pigeon they caught in Pathankot carried a message stamped in Urdu. Later that year, in October, police officials clipped the wings of a pigeon they caught in Bamial village with a similar message to prevent it from "escaping".

The article originally appeared on Times of India