Pigeon busted in attempt to smuggle drugs into Costa Rican prison

A pigeon was busted as it attempted to smuggle cocaine and cannabis into a prison in Costa Rica.

You may not typically pay pigeons much attention outside of giving them the occasional suspicious side-glance whenever they try to surreptitiously cozy up to you and your delicious lunch crumbs, but their innate homing ability has made these seemingly nondescript birds ideal for carrying messages across large distances.

The bird was being used in a weird attempt to sneak the narcotics to inmates being held at the La Reforma Penitentiary prison.

Narcopalomas, loosely translated as “drug doves”, have been used by drug dealers in the past to send drugs to prisoners.

Orange might be the new black, but the narco pigeon went old school in its Zoo Ave mug shot, sporting traditional dark plumage. Memes about the #NarcoPaloma flooded social media, with some even joking that pigeons in the country are threatening to take over if their “comrade” is not released, according to Tico Times.

A pigeon has been intercepted by the police after discovering a 149 of cocaine and marijuana tied to its body.

Paul Bertozzi added: ‘We have a warning that this method can be used again as it is not the first time in the history of La Reforma that a pigeon was detected with drugs’.

In May, police in India detained a pigeon on suspicion of spying for rival Pakistan, after a 14 year-old in the village of Manwal, near the India-Pakistan border, found a note in Urdu under the pigeon’s feathers.

The bird was seen landing in the central concourse of the medium security La Reforma jail, in San Rafael de Alajuela, where it was taken into custody.