Drug smugglers go old school, try to use pigeon to ferry their wares.

A pigeon was detained in a Canadian jail last month after officers noticed that it was carrying a backpack containing crystal meth.

The Globe and Mail reported that the bird was captured at the Pacific Institution correctional facility near Vancouver.

Pacific regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, John Randle said, “The fact that it’s tied to a pigeon is abnormal.”

“It was spotted by correctional officers, I believe, and security intelligence officers when the officers were doing their standard patrols around and throughout the unit and institution.” 

“That’s when they initially spotted the bird with the package on it,” Randle told Global News.

Randle said his first reaction was "shock," after officers noticed the high-flying fowl and its cargo.

"My initial reaction was shock, because of all the advancements in technology and the number of drones we’ve seen.” 

According to Randle, after staff set a trap, the bird was captured on the penitentiary wall.

Randle said that he had never seen winged traffickers in his 13 years as a corrections officer.

He stated that it could have been easier for the smugglers to use a drone to take the drugs to a specific location, instead of using a live creature.

Randel also said the facility has daily been battling with drug-smuggling drones but increased awareness of the drones by law enforcement has made smugglers recently go “old school” with their methods.

“They have gone backward in technology. Maybe that’s because of all the work we have done with drone interdiction that they are trying to find new ways to get contraband in without being detected,” he explained.

He said that the creativity of smugglers should be a “massive concern to everybody,’’ although the drug pigeon incident is currently under investigation.

“The introduction of drugs into federal prisons is becoming a huge crisis. The whole goal of prisons is to rehabilitate and release people into society as law-abiding citizens, [so] introducing drugs is scary and especially a drug like crystal meth,” Randle noted.

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