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Criminals strap tiny rucksack to pigeon to smuggle drugs

Coo! Drugs
Coo! Drugs

A homing pigeon caught by customs officials in Kumait was found the be wearing a small backpack stuffed with illegal drugs.  

According to Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai, the fabric pouch contained 178 pills, which were found to contain a form of ketamine.

The pigeon is understood to have been found in Abdali, close to the Iraq-Kuwait border.

Pigeon
Caught in the act

Journalist Abdullah Fahmi told the BBC that customs officials have known for some time that smugglers in the area are using pigeons to move drugs, but this is the first time they've managed to catch one of the birds.

This is not the first time criminals have used pigeons to smuggle drugs. In 2011 it was reported that police in Colombia had caught a carrier pigeon wearing a bag containing 40g of marijuana and 5g of a paste containing cocaine, in a failed attempt to smuggle the drugs into prison.

It's thought that plan failed as the package was too heavy for the bird to clear the prison walls.

"We found the bird about a block away from the prison trying to fly over with a package, but due to the excess weight it could not accomplish its mission," said Jose Angel Mendoza, the local police commander.

"This is a new case of criminal ingenuity."