A pigeon that entered India was detained by the local police as a "Chinese spy" for eight months because its leg ring was "suspected to have Chinese characters written on it." After investigation, it was found to be an ordinary pigeon used by China for competitions, and the pigeon was eventually "acquitted."According to reports, the pigeon was found in a port in Mumbai, India, in May 2023. The pigeon had two leg rings tied to its legs, and locals thought the text written on it "looked Chinese." After the local police intervened, they believed that the pigeon was a "spy pigeon" trained by the Chinese intelligence agency and therefore detained it. The pigeon will not be released until January 30, 2024.
What's funny is that further investigation by the local police found that the pigeon was actually an ordinary racing pigeon used for competitions and came from Taiwan. The pigeon was eventually released locally. At present, the Indian police have not commented on the matter.
The report mentioned that this is not the first time that birds have been suspected by the Indian police. In 2020, the police in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region released a pigeon belonging to a Pakistani fisherman after it was suspected of being a "spy."
Data show that homing pigeons played an important role in World War I and World War II and were used as military message carriers, so they were called "hospital pigeons." During World War II, the United Kingdom trained 250,000 homing pigeons to transmit military intelligence. However, after the end of World War II, this method has been gradually phased out by the militaries of various countries.