A pigeon suspected of being a “spy” for the Pakistani authorities has been detained in India after it landed in a village close to the countries’ border.

A 14-year-old boy said he became suspicious of the bird when he saw a stamped message in Urdu on the bird’s tail feathers, according to the Times of India.

The memo on the pigeon read: “Tehsil Shakargarh, district Narowal” along with a string of numbers.

The pigeon had landed on the home of Ramesh Chandra, a local barber, on Wednesday evening in Manwal village, which is 4km from the border with Pakistan.



The son of the barber took the bird to the nearest policeman. “Unfortunately, mobile phones rarely work in the border areas,” Chandra said, adding: “My son ran to the nearest police post.”

Yet the message and wire-like object on the pigeon’s body led officers to later take the bird to a veterinary hospital in Pathankot in Punjab for further inspection.

After x-rays had been done, senior police superintendent Rakesh Kaushal told local media: “Nothing adverse has been found, but we have kept the bird in our custody.”

The numbers on the pigeon appeared to be a landline telephone in Pakistan’s Narowal district, according to local reports.

“This is a rare instance of a bird from Pakistan being spotted here. We have caught a few spies here. The area is sensitive, given its proximity to Jammu, where infiltration is quite common,” added the police superintendent.



The bird has been listed in police records as a “suspected spy”, according to the newspaper.



The pigeon was found on a day when an inter-state meeting on security was being held among officials from the Punjab police and the Indian army as well as officials from Kathua and Jammu districts.



However, this is not the first time that a bird has been caught in the middle of an international dispute. In 2008, Iranian authorities arrested two pigeons accused of spying on a nuclear facility, while a stork was detained in Egypt two years ago after being spotted with a mysterious device attached to its feathers.



Earlier this year, Islamic State militants reportedly captured at least 15 pigeon breeders in Iraq. Three of those held by the group in the eastern province of Diyala were reportedly killed, according to a security official.