Authorities Catch Pigeon Smuggling Narcotics Into Prison

Up in Canada, a pigeon was caught smuggling meth into a prison by wearing a baggie “like a little backpack.”

Authorities Had To ‘Corner’ The Drug-Smuggling Bird

The odd situation went down back in late December at Pacific Institution in British Columbia, CBC News reports. While out on the prison yard, officers noticed a pigeon that appeared to be carrying a small package.

Ultimately, John Randle—a regional president for the Union for Canadian Correctional Officers—was only able to describe the incident as “kind of a curveball.”

“From my understanding, it was tied to it in a similar fashion as like a little backpack.”

Authorities swiftly attempted to intercept the bird before it was able to deliver its illicit cargo, and they ultimately had to “corner” the pigeon.

“They had to corner it. You can imagine how that would look, trying to catch a pigeon.”

They were eventually able to capture the animal, obtain the narcotics, and release the bird.

The Pigeon Was Moving A ‘Fairly Substantial’ Amount Of Crystal Meth

Around 30 grams of crystal meth were found on the pigeon, which Randle described as a “fairly substantial” amount. He also said that finding a drug-smuggling bird was “definitely scary,” as it “causes a whole lot of problems.”

“It’s definitely scary with the fact that it was crystal meth that was found on the bird, because that causes a whole lot of problems.”

Randle also noted that he’d never heard of a similar instance in his 13 years working at the institution.

The Incident Serves As A ‘Reality Check’ To Stay On Alert

As carrier pigeons are a thing of the past, Randle considers the situation a lesson to remain vigilant, as you never know what’s up a smuggler’s sleeve.

“It’s a bit of a reality check for us that the creativity that people are going to use to try and smuggle drugs and other contraband into the institution is multifaceted.”

He added, “We’ve been focusing so much on drone interdiction…Now we have to look at, I guess, pigeons again.”

As for how the pigeon could’ve been trained to deliver the narcotics, Givo Hassko—director of the Vancouver Poultry & Fancy Pigeon Association—offers one explanation that involves a prisoner raising a pigeon from birth.

“Like Shawshank Redemption, where he had a crow from a baby—you could do that with a pigeon. Then, yeah, the pigeon would come back.”

The matter is under further investigation, and no further details are available at this time.

What do you think about a bird being caught movin’ weight into a Canadian prison?