A pigeon was caught smuggling drugs into a prison in Costa Rica

A pigeon smuggling cocaine and cannabis into a Costa Rican prison has been caught by guards.

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The winged “narco pigeon” was intercepted as it landed in the grounds of the medium security La Reforma jail, in San Rafael de Alajuela.

Guards found a small sack strapped to the bird’s chest containing around 14g of cocaine and 14g of cannabis.

Costa Rica’s Ministry of Justice and Peace posted a mugshot online of the bird, using the headline “narcopaloma”, meaning “drugs dove”.

Guards believe the pigeon was groomed by an inmate, who had trained it to act as a courier.

It was taken to a zoo, where keepers said it may have to remain in captivity, as it had become accustomed to being hand fed.

Prison police director Paul Bertozzi told Spanish news agency Efe that the incident was unsurprising.

“Drug traffickers are using unimaginable ways to achieve their macabre atrocities,” he said, in comments reported by Sky News.