A pigeon's been caught trying to smuggle drugs in a little backpack

Does anyone else remember watching Geordie Racer at school?

It was one of those ‘Look and Read’ productions which teachers would get out on VHS when they couldn’t be bothered to teach anything, and it was about a character called Spuggy Hilton (before you ask, this show predated Byker Grove, so he was the original Spuggy) who wasn’t into running like the rest of his family (his dad was played by Kevin Whately), but instead loved racing pigeons. And Spuggy owned one of the best birds in Newcastle – Blue Flash.

The lyrics to the theme song went as follows:

“Flying free, flying high,
Flashing wings across the sky,
Geordie racer, Geordie racer.”

Poetry.

And, as anyone who watched Geordie Racer will know, pigeons are a) very good at flying and b) very smart. So we’re surprised it’s taken people this long to start training them to be drug runners. Forget mules – who would want a mule transporting your drugs? They’re slow, stupid and would stand out a mile at an airport – you need to get pigeons on the case if you want your drugs delivered on time and to the right location.

Sadly though, one such pioneering bird has fallen fowl foul of the law in Kuwait, with newspaper Al-Rai reporting that customs have seized 178 pills in a backpack worn by a homing pigeon.

Customs officers tracked the bird flying in from Iraq and apparently caught it above a building near their department. It’s not been made clear yet what type of pills the pigeon was transporting, but come on, they’re not going to be Ibuprofen are they. Reddit is claiming that the pills are ecstasy tablets.

Why did it get caught? Well one redditor had an idea:

(Image: Rex)