Drug-Smuggling Birds Strike Again

Thought carrier pigeons were a thing of the past? Think again! People are still taking advantage of pigeons’ remarkable ability to remember specific routes. For example, in Peru, a drug-smuggling pigeon was recently caught delivering marijuana to a prison.

Pigeon Caught Delivering Drugs in Peru

Back in May, Peruvian police apprehended a drug-smuggling pigeon on the grounds of a prison in the city of Huancayo, located in the Junín region of central Peru. The bird was discovered when a prison staff member noticed it landing to drink from a puddle. Around its neck was a light blue pouch wrapped in tape, containing at least 30 grams of marijuana.

According to police, the package was intended for one of the inmates, but the specific recipient has not yet been identified. Agents from the National Penitentiary Institute of Peru believe the pigeon was trained to transport drugs from outside into the prison. There is also suspicion that a relative of one of the inmates brought the bird to the facility. The investigation is ongoing, but police have already narrowed their search to one of the prison’s pavilions, where evidence of the pigeon being fed was found.

Not the First Time Pigeons Have Been Used for Smuggling

This is far from the first case of pigeons being used to deliver illegal substances. Previously, in Kuwait, a pigeon was caught with a backpack strapped to its back containing a sizable load—178 pills.

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