Pigeons from Pakistan, with rings buckled to their feet, have been spotted on the Indian side of the border in Punjab, fuelling speculation about unorganised attempts by drug peddlers from across the border to send in information on drugs being smuggled into India.
The rings have some sketchy inscriptions in Urdu. They were by many villagers in the border areas, following which security agencies were alerted. Officials did not rule out the possibility of these birds being used as couriers to plan logistics for sneaking in drugs into Punjab.
The Punjab police had recently tightened the noose around drug peddlers in the state. From April to October, 8,705 narcotics cases were registered in the state. On a monthly average, over 1,500 people have been arrested under various sections of the NDPS Act in Punjab since April.
Sources said the century-old practice of using pigeons as couriers may have appealed to drug lords in Pakistan since it is presumed to be a safer way of transmitting information.
All it requires is some precision and care to ensure that the bird is spotted by conduits on the Indian side.
In 2010, a Pakistani pigeon gave sleepless nights to the security agencies after it landed on a border police post in Punjab. The bird bore a phone number from Islamabad. Since investigations remained inconclusive, the pigeon was handed over to the wildlife department. Punjab shares a 550-km international border with Pakistan and such movements are not taken lightly by the security agencies and the police. The state falls in the international drug trafficking zone, dubbed the “Golden Crescent.”
It is a major transit point for drugs coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Recoveries in Punjab in the last five years are at least 50 per cent of the national recovery. Several people in the border villages have pigeons as pets.
The AIG, counter-intelligence, Punjab, said in 2012 the main focus was to identify and nab the organised smugglers who were importing heroin from across the border. This year, a two-fold strategy was adopted: To stop the entry of heroin into Punjab and wherever the smugglers managed to succeed, the consignment was tracked and seized before it was transported out of the state or distributed locally.