Old School Delivery Method

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

The birds are caught with pills or powder stuffed 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 captured in B.C.

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

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

Officers were standing in one of the fenced inmate unit yards, which prisoners use regularly for hanging out, playing games or just getting some fresh air. Then the officers noticed something strange: a grey bird with a small package on its 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 it free.

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, because that causes a whole lot of problems," he added.

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

In recent years, corrections officers have increasingly 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 like pigeons or "throwover" — where someone outside lobs a package over the fence.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/pigeon-caught-with-meth-inside-bc-prison-1.6704753

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