Pigeon wearing crystal meth 'like a backpack' caught inside B.C. prison yard

Nearly a century ago, a pigeon breeder approachedfederal customs officers with a bit of anodd problem.

A pigeon he'd recently sold to a buyer in Mexicohad flown back to his homein Texas with two aluminumcapsules full of cocaine tied to its legs.

After a briefinvestigation, officials announcedtheir conclusion.

"CARRIER PIGEONS SMUGGLE DRUGS," blared an all-caps newspaper headline onFeb. 2, 1930.

Drug-smuggling pigeons have persisted over the decades since,busted from North America to Europe and Asia.

The birds are caught with pills or powderstuffed into mini-backpacks, tiny baggies or zippered pouches sometimes foiled because they couldn't get off the ground with all the weight.

Last week, for the first time in recent memory, one was capturedin B.C.

"This is kind of a curveball," said John Randle, Pacific regional president of the Union for Canadian Correctional Officers.

Officers 'had to corner it'

Randle said it was a routine dayafter the holidays at Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, B.C., on Dec. 29.

Officers were standing in one of the fencedinmate unit yards,which prisonersuse regularly forhanging out,playing games or just getting some fresh air.

Then the officers noticed something strange: a grey bird with asmall package onits back.

"From my understanding,it was tied to it in a similar fashion as like a little backpack," Randle said.

The officers moved in.

"They had to corner it," Randle said."You can imagine how that would look, trying to catch a pigeon."

After "a lengthy period of time," the officers apprehended the bird,removed its cargo and set itfree.

Randle said the package contained about 30 grams of crystal meth, which he described as a "fairly substantial" amount of the intensely addictive stimulant.

"It's definitely scary with the fact that it was crystal meth that was found on the bird, becausethat causes a whole lot of problems," he added.

Corrections Canada confirmed in an email it is investigating, but would not provide further details.

Drones typically the problem

In recent years, corrections officers haveincreasingly been on the lookout for drones dropping contraband into correctional facilities. Last month, a drone dropped a firearm into Mission Institution.

Since the drone crackdown, Randle said smugglers might be turning back to "old school" methods likepigeons or "throwover" where someone outside lobs a package over the fence.

"We've been focusing so much on drone interdiction ...now we have to look at, I guess, pigeons again," said Randle, who hasn't heard of another live pigeon incident in B.C. in his 13 years of experience.

"It's a bit of a reality check for us that the creativity that people are going to use to try and smuggle drugs and other contraband into the institution ismultifaceted."

Homing pigeons have been used to carry messages since the Roman Empire,particularly valued during the First and Second World Wars for their ability to navigate long distances to return to their home lofts with key messages.

One expert said there are two plausible ways to use a pigeonto deliver drugs. One, someone could throwthe freighted pigeon over the fence into the prison.

Second, an inmate could spend months trainingthe bird from the insideto recognize the prisonas its home. Someone would getthe bird to theoutside, fasten itscargo and releaseit toreturn "home" tothe prison.

"LikeShawshankRedemption, where he had a crow from a babyyou coulddo that with a pigeon. Then, yeah, the pigeon would come back," said Givo Hassko, director of the Vancouver Poultry & Fancy Pigeon Association.

"It's sad in a way,where the pigeonsonce were used for saving livesis now being used for smuggling," he added. "But I hope they they figure it out."