NEW DELHI - Indian police said Friday they have detained a pigeon that flew into a village near the heavily militarised border with Pakistan on suspicion it was being used for espionage. Police said they had X-rayed the bird to see whether it was carrying anything suspicious after a villager spotted a stamp under its feathers that bore Urdu script and the name of a Pakistani district.
"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," senior police superintendent Rakesh Kaushal told AFP by telephone.
"Till now there is no evidence to suggest it is a spy bird but so long as we are not able to decipher what is written in Urdu, we cannot be absolutely sure."
Kaushal said police had alerted intelligence services over the discovery of the pigeon in the northern state of Punjab.
According to Indian news agencies, the entry and capture of the white pigeon, apparently from across the border, in a border village of Pathankot on Thursday has caused a flutter among intelligence sleuths and Punjab police. This comes two days after an Intelligence Bureau (IB) alert to Punjab Police on the possibility of Indian Mujahideen being active in Jammu and Pathankot areas. The fact that the avian 'intruder' bore a stamped message and had a wire-like object on its body made the security agencies take a closer look at its flight into India. A part of the message was in Urdu, but the numbers appeared to be that of a landline telephone in Pakistan's Narowal district.
The bird landed at the mud and brick house of barber Ramesh Chandra in Manwal village, 4km from Pakistan border, around 6.30pm on Wednesday. The suspicions of the barber's 14-year-old son were aroused by the Urdu markings, and he went to the nearest police post around 9pm with the "spy bird". His arrival there with the bird perched on a wire mesh along with Chandra's chicken created a stir.
"Unfortunately, mobile phones rarely work in the border areas. My son ran to the nearest police post," Chandra told Times of India. Cops at Bamiyal police post made a diary entry terming the bird as a "suspected spy", and sent a communication to BSF and IB.
The bird was found on a day when an inter-state meeting on security was being held among officials of Punjab Police, Indian Army as well as those from Kathua and Jammu districts.
"It was a meeting to launch joint search and combing operation in the respective areas. The security of Ranjit Sagar Dam was also discussed and decision has been taken to strengthen the security setup in and around the areas," said Punjab police inspector general (border range) Ishwar Sharma. It is not the first time birds have become embroiled in the often deadly decades-old rivalry between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
In 2013, Indian security forces found a dead falcon fitted with a small camera, and in 2010 another pigeon was detained over espionage fears. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since partition in 1947, and deep mutual suspicions persist.