Smuggler pigeons ruffle feathers

Updated 10.09 Thu Jun 26 2008
Keywords: prison guards, Persians, Egyptians, prison officers, contraband, security, mobile phones, transport, bird, drug, prison, carrier, pigeons, jail, pigeon, Brazil

Pigeons are being used to transport drugs in and out of prisons in Brazil.

Prison officers in Marilia discovered drugs and mobile phones were being carried to inmates.

The plot was uncovered when a jail stepped up security and found a visitor carrying two pigeons inside a box

The plot was uncovered when a jail stepped up security and found a visitor carrying two pigeons inside a box.

The guards then spotted several birds struggling to get off the ground because they were weighed down by tiny backpacks.

Pigeon trainer Wanderlei Gatti said: "Someone is breeding these pigeons inside the cells and they are being tamed inside the prison."

An investigation confirmed one inmate had managed to create a nest for the birds in his cell.

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