Not too long ago, earlier in May 2023, a Chinese spy pigeon bird was arrested in India after it was being used as a spy agent in the country.
The bird was found on a fishing boat along Odisha Paradip Coast of Jagatsingphur with a tiny device attached to its leg, later confirmed to be a microchip camera.
After eight months, the bird is now released after it was confirmed that it was sent to partake in a water race but lost its way and ended up in India.
The bird was captured with two rings tied on its left and right leg, respectively, with Chinese words written on both sides of its wings.
The fishermen who caught the pigeon then proceeded to hand it over to the marine police, who also took it for investigation at the State Forensic Laboratory.
However, the SFL could not extract any data from the tiny microdevices, so the pigeon bird was transferred to the Central Forensic State Laboratory.
The superintendent of police at Jagatsinghpur Rahul PR said, "the two devices that were seized and the words written on the wings of the pigeon would be thoroughly examined".
The pigeon was admitted to the hospital for animals at Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw while investigations were going on.
However, the investigation revealed that the bird was innocent. It was supposed to partake in an open water race in Taiwan but lost its way and flew out of the country, landing in India.
Odisha | A suspected spy pigeon fitted with a tiny camera & a chip caught from a fishing boat off the Paradip coast in Jagatsinghpur
— ANI (@ANI) March 9, 2023
The fishermen found the pigeon in their boat while fishing in the sea. They handed over the pigeon to Paradip Marine police station: Paradip ASP pic.twitter.com/4ABSbDtbsy
The case was dropped after investigations ended, and the pigeon bird was released from the hospital on approval of the Police. The bird was in a good medical state when it was released.
Other sources argued that the pigeon was a weather analysis bird sent to confirm the weather in India.
Another commentator said: "The pigeon should be grateful that their kinds of breed are not eaten in India.
Birds Espionage In India
Looking at the history of India, it is gathered that this is not the first time birds used for spying have been held captive by the country.
Earlier in 2016, a pigeon bird was captured after it was caught with a threatening note to Narendra Modi, who was the Prime Minister.
Also in 2020, one Indian police took custody of a pigeon that belonged to a fisherman in Pakistan, the policeman assumed that the bird was a spy but it had flown across the militarized border between the armed nations so it was released to its owner.