PARADIP: Local fishermen caught a suspected ‘spy’ pigeon fitted with a mini camera and a microchip and handed it over to Paradip Marine police on Wednesday. The pigeon was caught by the fishermen of a trawler named ‘Sarathi’ around 40 nautical miles off Paradip coast on Tuesday. The trawler with eight fishermen had ventured into the sea on Sunday.
Trawler driver Sankar Behera said the fishermen spotted the white-coloured pigeon perched on the vessel. A tiny camera and microchip were fitted on both its legs. The camera was covered in black tape. Besides, something was scribbled on its wings in a foreign language.
“We suspected that the bird was being used by China for spying along Odisha coast. The fishermen captured the pigeon and fed it for two days. On returning to the fishing harbour on Wednesday, we handed over the bird to police,” Behera added.
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Jagatsinghpur SP Rahul PR said police have sent the camera and microchip to the State Forensic Laboratory, Bhubaneswar for examination. Local veterinarians were roped in to examine the bird’s health condition.“We will take the help of linguists as police personnel are unable to interpret the message written on its wings. We have also requested cyber experts to join the investigation,” the SP informed.
On Thursday, the suspected ‘spy’ was handed over to the pigeon and dog squad, Cuttack to verify if the bird was trained or not. Police are yet to register a case in this connection, Rahul added. Notably, Odisha’s 480-km coastline houses vital installations like the missile test range in Balasore. The Paradip coast houses the port, IOCL’s oil refinery project and major industries.