The Indian coast guards near the Indo-Pak coastal border in Gujarat had a rather unusual visitor on March 20th, when they were patrolling the area like any other day. What seemed like a normal pigeon trying to quench its thirst at an under-construction Essar jetty at Salaya shore in Devbumi Dwarka, Gujarat, turned out to be quite a puzzle on closer inspection.
The lost bird, reportedly, had a chip tied to one of its claws and a ring with the number ‘28733’ on the other claw. As if this was not enough to send the poor guards in a tizzy, the bird also had writings in Urdu/Arabic across its wings!
Fearing security threats, the ‘winged intruder’ was immediately detained for a day, after no signs of its owner were found. The pigeon was remanded to police custody at the Vadinar Marine police station where the bird was ‘strip searched’, yielding no further leads. However, the chip and the ring are now in the custody of the forensic team for closer examination at the Forensic Science Laboratory, Gandhinagar.
The chip was found to have the writings ‘Benjing Dual’ inscribed on it. Also, the Urdu/Arabic writings on the intruder’s wings was interpreted as “Rasul-ul-Allah’ (messenger of Allah).
However, with no convincing explanation of the incident in place, Gujarat police, forensic experts, the forest department and now even the Union Home Ministry, is going bonkers as Indian coastal security remains the primary cause of concern for the government after the infamous Mumbai attacks.
The story was originally published in The Times of India