Pigeon detained for 8 months on espionage suspicions finally released

NEW DEHLI (TND) — Police in India released a suspected Chinese spy pigeon Friday after holding the bird in detention for eight months.

The bird was captured in May near a port in Mumbai with two rings, inscribed with words that appeared to be Chinese, attached to its legs. Police detained the possible winged mole before sending it toMumbai’s Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals to be medically examined -- and investigated further.

The hospital would ask law enforcement officials if they could release the pigeon months later as the bird was healthy, taking up a cage in their facilities, and due to police having taken no further action or investigation against the alleged avian secret agent.

After officials initially refused, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (PETA) India branch contacted the police and furnished the necessary paperwork to secure the bird's release. It was transferred to theBombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose medical staff released it Tuesday.

Eventually, it turned out the pigeon was an open-water racing bird from Taiwan that had escaped and made its way to India.

While the use of pigeons for military and espionage operations is nothing new, with the birds still being widely used during the first and second world wars. However, despite the practice falling away in the modern era, China allegedly operates a spy military unitat its Guilin Joint Logistics Support Center in Kunming, Yunnan province, according to reporting by the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia.

This is also not the first time a bird has come under police suspicion in India in the last decade.

In 2020, police in Indian-controlled Kashmir released a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisherman after a probe found that the bird, which had flown across the heavily militarized border between the nuclear-armed nations, was not a spy.

In 2016, another pigeon was taken into custody after it was found with a note that threatened Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report