Falcon with camera sparks spying fears on India-Pakistan border

Indian security forces have found a dead falcon fitted with a small camera which has sparked alarm near the border with Pakistan.

JAIPUR // Security forces have found a dead falcon fitted with a small camera which has sparked alarm near the border with Pakistan, an official said yesterday.

The carcass was discovered near Jaisalmer in the far west of Rajasthan state where the armed forces regularly conduct drills and war games.

"It was fitted with some device and an antenna," a Border Security Force officer.

Suspicions were initially that the bird might have been used for military spying, but the camera did not appear very sophisticated and it might instead have been the work of Pakistani hunters, the official said.

"However, the possibility of it being an espionage attempt from Pakistan cannot be ruled out at this stage," he said.

In 2010, Indian police detained a pigeon under armed guard after it was caught on an alleged spying mission.

Local officers in Punjab state, which lies to the north of Rajasthan, said the white bird had a ring around its foot and a Pakistani phone number and address stamped on its body in red ink.