Washington: A parrot has been taken into custody after nearly spoiling a drug raid while playing lookout for two crack-dealing suspects by repeatedly yelling, "Mamãe, polícia!" according to Brazilian police in the state of Piaui. The phrase means, "Mum, police!"

Police encountered the unnamed parrot perched inside the dealer's one-storey home with a windowless facade, Brazil's R7 news channel reported. As police searched for the suspects, it seemed the lime-green bird knew exactly what to do.

The parrot was taken into custody in the northern Brazilian state of Piaui after alerting its owners a police raid was imminent. Credit:Screenshot

"He must have been trained for this," one officer involved in the operation said of the parrot's attempt to interfere with law enforcement, the Guardian reported. "As soon as the police got close he started shouting."

The bird's efforts were not successful, however. Footage of the raid's aftermath aired by R7 shows police cataloguing small bags of crack while the parrot sits obediently on a counter top next to a race car helmet and a glass bottle. Its apparent owners, a man and teenage girl, were arrested, local newspaper Meio Norte reported.