Not a spy, just a pigeon. (Picture: Wikicommons)

A group of pigeons in Vietnam have been cleared of espionage charges after police revealed that the birds, which were initially believed to have been sent to spy on the country by the Chinese government, actually belong to a racing club.

The would-be feathered foreign agents were caught in central Vietnam, and attracted the attention of police after Chinese characters were found stamped on their wings with red ink, as well as having mysterious rings around their ankles.

A local news site has reported that 16 of the birds have been caught by residents of Da Nang City since last November.



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Colonel Tran Phouc of the Da Nang Police Department told Thanh Nien News that the birds had been traced by the markings on their wings, which turned out to be their racing names and club registration numbers.

It has transpired that the pigeons belonged to racing clubs based in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam itself, and turned up in Da Nang City after abandoning racing competitions.

Relations between Vietnam and China became strained last year after China began to extract oil in the South China Sea, referred to in Vietnam as the East Sea and viewed as an exclusive economic zone.

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