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Buenos Aires (AFP)

Argentine police shot dead a carrier pigeon that was delivering drugs to inmates in jail, prison authorities said Friday.

The pigeon was spotted flying into the grounds of the jail in Santa Rosa, central Argentina, a source in the Federal Penitentiary Service said.

Officers shot it down and found it to be carrying on its back a package containing pills and marijuana.

The prisons service had reported in 2013 that drug traffickers were using trained pigeons, some of which authorities say can make up to 15 delivery runs a day.

On the day when the latest pigeon was caught, traffickers had tried to make it pass unnoticed amid a flock that was released as part of a local pigeon-fanciers event.

© 2017 AFP