Mumbai: A pigeon was finally declared not to be a potential Chinese spy and released after eight months in police custody. The bird was found at a port in Mumbai with “messages written in a Chinese-like script” on its wings.
“Initially, the police had registered a case of spying against the bird, but after completing their inquiry, they dropped the charge,” said the report.
The nameless bird was being kept under lock and key at a medical facility while the police conducted their investigation.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a statement on Thursday stating that the investigation took a “astonishing eight months”.
According to PETA India, on Wednesday, the police gave the hospital “formal permission to release the pigeon”.
According to local media reports, the bird departed in good health.
The pigeon is just one of many that authorities have taken into custody on espionage-related charges.
In 2016, a pigeon found near the Pakistani border with a threatening message for Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apprehended by border security officers.
When a second pigeon was discovered in the same area in 2010 with a ring around its foot and a red-ink stamped Pakistani phone number and address on its body, it was placed under armed guard.
In that instance, authorities ordered that the pigeon, which they claimed might have been on a “special mission of spying,” not be visited by anyone.
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