Suspected Spy Released after Eight Months
A suspected spy for China was released recently in Mumbai—about eight months after being captured. The capture happened at a port where international ships dock. The suspected spy, a black pigeon, apparently had some faded Chinese writing on its wings and a microchip that led security guards at the port to believe that it was on a mission of some sort.
According to a New York Times report, the guards reported the suspicious bird to the Mumbai police, and Sub-Inspector Ravindar
Patil was assigned the case. While conducting his investigation, he placed the bird in a veterinary hospital. A forensic sciences lab examined the rings on the bird’s legs, including one with a microchip, and helped Patil conclude that the pigeon was a harmless racing bird from Taiwan and had probably traveled to Mumbai on a ship.
The pigeon, however, remained in captivity several months after Patil had completed his investigation. “The police never came to check the pigeon,” Dr. Mayur Dangar, manager of the hospital, told The Times. It took a newspaper report, letters to the police from the hospital, and an effort from the animal rights group, PETA India, for the pigeon to finally be set free.
“PETA India handles 1,000 calls a week of animal emergencies,” said Meet Ashar, a legal advisor for the group, “but this was our first case of a suspected spy who needed to be freed.”
More of ChaiTime here:
http://www.khabar.com/magazine/chaitime/
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
Enjoyed reading Khabar magazine? Subscribe to Khabar and get a full digital copy of this Indian-American community magazine.
