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Pigeons Sneaking Cell Phones Into Brazilian Jail

by Peter Mychalcewycz on April 6, 2009 at 06:02 PM



Prison has a way of transforming a two-bit criminal into frickin' MacGyver, so we weren't extremely surprised by this example of inmates thinking on the fly (no pun intended, there).

Two weeks ago, guards at the Danilio Pinheiro prison farm in Brazil intercepted a cell-phone-toting pigeon after they spotted the aerial accomplice perched on an electric security wire with a small bag tied to its leg. "The guards nabbed the bird after luring it down with some food and discovered components of a small cell phone inside the bag," said police investigator Celso Soramiglio, speaking to the AP. A day later, another pigeon was intercepted. It was carrying the phone's charger.

Apparently, the pigeons had been bred inside the prison and then smuggled out so that they could be outfitted with the cell phone parts and sent back. This makes complete sense according to Soramiglio, since "Pigeons instinctively fly back home, always."


Cell phones allow incarcerated members of organized crime groups to pull strings outside of the prison walls. Authorities have not yet discovered the person(s) responsible for breeding and training the pigeons, or the identity of the intended cell phone recipient. Soramiglio is hopeful that the telephone carrier (not carrier pigeon) could match the confiscated phone with the name of a guilty party. [From: AP Via: Neatorama]


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Tags: animals, brazil, carrier pigeon, CarrierPigeon, cell phone, CellPhone, crime, criminals, jail, prison, prisoners, smuggling, top, weird

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