Hamama was acquitted of being a Chinese spy, but served 8 months anyway

Suspected foreign espionage, letters written in ancient Chinese, a sensitive microchip – and a suspect who can't be stopped at the border.

Ravindar Patel, the Mumbai police assistant inspector in charge of the case, was scratching his head for answers. But first, he had to find a place to confine the unusual captive.

So, he turned to a veterinary hospital in the Indian capital, asking for a list of “toply confidential and essential” information about the suspect – a black pigeon that had been caught lurking in a port where international ships were docked.

“The police never came to check the bathroom,” said Dr. Mayur Dhangar, the hospital director.

After eight months, Al-Tair was finally released this week. His innocence of spying for China has long been confirmed through police work, but the prison doors were not opened until after journalist reportAnd repeated letters to the police by the veterinary hospital and intervention from an animal rights group.

The group PETA India celebrated what it called the end of “wrongful imprisonment.”

“PETA India handles 1,000 calls a week for animal emergencies, but this was our first case of a suspected spy who needed to be released,” said Mit Ashar, who leads the organisation's cruelty response division.

The case put hospital staff in a dilemma: They didn't want to expose a healthy bird to sick and injured people, but they also couldn't release it because “it was a high-profile matter,” Mr. Ashar said. “The case and the charge were very serious.”

This is not the first time India has feared feather infiltration, but the latest case was a sign of changing times and threats.

In 2014, authorities in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, amid tense relations between India and Pakistan, arrested a pigeon near the border on similar charges.

The bird found in Mumbai indicates new developments – it appeared in a city not close to the disputed border, and the Chinese writing on its wings indicates a more sophisticated and powerful competitor that India has been grappling with in recent years.

Mr Patel, a 39-year-old assistant inspector, had dealt with two animal cases before during his 12-year career: the deaths of two dogs, one in a case of suspected poisoning that required an autopsy, the other in the road. incident. Neither case had geopolitical ramifications.

But this time, “I had to ask our intelligence colleagues for advice,” he said in a phone interview.

The bird was spotted by guards of the Central Industrial Security Force, which monitors government facilities such as ports. The officer on duty was not the first to cast a critical glance at a pigeon, as he had seen this one loitering alone – “It was just sitting there, and it all looked fishy to them – a chip and a ring in the feet,” said Mr Patel. The guards informed the police.

Once Mr. Patel found a place to confine the bird, the slow work of the investigation began. He began piecing the clues together.

The rings on the bird's legs, including those containing a microchip, were sent to the forensic science laboratory.

“The chip contained details about the site’s encryption, what it was and where it came from,” he said.

He added: “There was nothing else suspicious.”

He reviewed the details with information on the Internet and concluded that the dove was a racing bird from Taiwan. Speaking to guards at the port, which mostly receives oil ships transporting crude oil for refining, he learned that Taiwanese ships were among the vessels that docked there. He concluded that the bird may have arrived in Mumbai on board a ship.

He said: “Maybe he was weak and injured, and he got on the ship and left here.”

As for the Chinese cursive writing on the wings?

“It was not legible,” he said. “Because it came by sea, it may have faded away.”

Why Altaïr remained in prison for several months after Mr. Patel completed his investigation is a matter of dispute. The hospital and PETA say the police were unresponsive and forgot about the bird. Mr Patel said the hospital misread the instructions that the pigeon should be released once it was healthy enough.

Dr Dangar said the pigeon was “no different from our pigeons”, and did well on a native diet of wheat, millet and rice. So, after the police finally responded to the hospital and PETA's queries with a 'no objection' letter, he was released on Tuesday.

Asked what he would say if Taiwanese pigeon owners came to claim it, Mr Patel said the bird had a new home in the Indian skies.

“It now belongs to us here,” Mr. Patel said.