Iran busts 'spy pigeons' near nuclear site

Iran busts 'spy pigeons' near nuclear site

news.smh.com.au

Security forces in Natanz have arrested two suspected "spy pigeons" near Iran's controversial uranium enrichment facility, the reformist Etemad Melli newspaper reported on Monday.

One of the pigeons was caught near a rose water production plant in the city of Kashan in Isfahan province, the report cited an unnamed informed source as saying, adding that some metal rings and invisible strings were attached to the bird.

"Early this month, a black pigeon was caught bearing a blue-coated metal ring, with invisible strings," the source was quoted as saying of the second pigeon.

The source gave no further description of the pigeons, neither their current status nor what their fate will be.

Natanz is home to Iran's heavily-bunkered underground uranium enrichment plant, which is not far from Kashan.

The activity is the focus of Iran's five-year standoff with the West, which that fears it aims to develop nuclear weapons.

Tehran vehemently denies the charge.

Last year, Iran issued a formal protest over the use of espionage by the United States to produce a key intelligence report on the country's controversial nuclear programme.

(visit the link for the full news article)

OK, so after I had a good chuckle at this I began to wonder if this is just more propaganda or if this is truth, and if so what is the purpose of these pigeons? Are the 'metal rings' attached to these birds some form of radiation detection device or something more sinister (not that I can think of anything off the top of my head).

One of the more bizarre stories to come out of Iran lately to say the least.

news.smh.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

More likely ( after laughing at the thought of 'spy pigeons') I know a lot of people here in the UK race pigeons, so there are probably someone in a country nearer to Iran that do the same. Pigeons whilst have an unerring knack of flying home after being taken miles and miles away , the first to get back home wins the race, as its metal ring number ,unique to the pigeon, and the time are noted down and the notes sent to a commitee for validation. the pigeon owners have a stopwatch which can't be tampered with to ensure its legal, I'm not too sure about the ins and outs of pigeon fancying ,(My father-in-law was one and I HATE pigeons) it just sounds like a pigeon racer that got lost and ended up near the reactor.

So my final word is ad infinitum

Once a pigeon kept flying into my window, and landing on the ground, up it flew , straight into the window again, it did it 4 times before I got annoyed and gave it some water, it drank then flew 'round' the building to continue on its path. It was dehydrated and thirsty and was getting confused, so it's likely 'spy pigeons' were doing the same.

On another thought ' how can you 'arrest' a pigeon?
can you read it it's rights to a fair trial?
can it acknowledge the charges?


[edit on 20/10/08 by DataWraith]

Originally posted by DataWraith
On another thought ' how can you 'arrest' a pigeon?
can you read it it's rights to a fair trial?
can it acknowledge the charges?

[edit on 20/10/08 by DataWraith]

Yeah that's what I had a good chuckle at too.

Officer: You have the right to remain silent, you have the right to an attorney, anything you do say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand what I have just said?

Pigeon: Squawk

Officer: [Draws Taser] I will only ask one more time, do you understand what I have just said?

Pigeon: Squawwwwwwwwwwk

Officer: DO NOT MOVE [Flap flap flap squawwwwwk] [Fires Taser][Feathers everywhere...]....


Oh the possibilities are endless....

If they were really spy pigeons... how does the bird know where to fly back to?

If it was remote, how far out can the pigeon go before you can not receive information?

This seems a bit far fetched but I guess anything is possible. Maybe the story is all wrong and what they found was just really plastic 6-pack holders wrapped around the pigeon's neck

Even though it is far fetched, plenty of stuff today is far fetched. I would be paranoid too, if i was the iranians.

They just never know, and you would think maybe, that things like that where possible.

What strikes me is they "arrested" the pigeons.

Are they going to use a kangaroo as the judge for their court?

My thoughts on this, the people of Iran watching a world record sandwich being made attacked and ate it before it could be measured. What chance would a couple of pigeons have in jail?

As for the 'invisible' string, what are the damn Israelis up to now? They have stealth string.

I knew it... You can't trust the pigeons!

Next time a pigeon looks at me cock-eyed while I enrich Uranium, I'm taking him down.

Hmm, perhaps these guys though lost their way? Pigeons navigate with little bits of iron in their brains acting like a compass, maybe the poles are shifting

I knew there was more to this

Oh wow. The idiot's paranoia has gone to another level!! Now the pigeons are spying on them? Just undersocres the idiocy that comes out of the country. Let me guess, Ahmadienjahd was the one who sdaw the birds?

**Please stay On Topic**

Let's not have this BAN submission degenerate into pigeon jokes and stories about racing or raising pigeons.

The title is about 'spies' and 'nuclear sites' and 'Iran'.

Thanks for your attention and happy posting!

-Badge01
Forum Moderator

I don't get the string part.
You couldnt let a pigeon fly off with fishing wire connected to its legs because you would probably end up electrocuted and/or the pigeon would get stuck or tangled on something.
And homing pigeons don't need strings they come home anyway.
I was thinking a spy camera attached to the metal ring but come on.
How would you get the bird to fly to the correct spot they just fly and land anywhere.
The only reliable thing they do is come home but what way they come home who the hell knows.
Why does the US need to use pigeons when they have spy satellites and global hawks?
I cant believe this was actually in a news paper.

Put a tiny radiation detector on a metal ring, attach a specific length of very thin metal wire and now you have a passive, mobile, and camouflaged radiation detector that can be interrogated wirelessly using a specific signal from an over-flight to activate it like one of those highway-toll passes many states now utilize.

Is it really that far fetched? Look at how small current RFID tags are and then realize that most of the hot research relating to RFID about 5-10 years ago was addressing the problem of gathering and storing small amounts of specific information and making that information available to RFID transceivers.

Jon

Originally posted by Badge01
**Please stay On Topic**

Let's not have this BAN submission degenerate into pigeon jokes and stories about racing or raising pigeons.

The title is about 'spies' and 'nuclear sites' and 'Iran'.

Thanks for your attention and happy posting!

-Badge01
Forum Moderator

Oh please come on, how serious can we take this topic???
Irans scared that 'Pigeons' are now spying on their enrichment programs? Talk about being paranoid, This kind of topic is going to draw the few funny comments from a few people who are struggling to find light in most of the world's troubles these days.

I for one hate pigeons but also applaud Iran for actually standing up for their rights to an energy source that doesn't use fossil fuels, why should only the US and UK have access to nuclear fuels and then have a threat pointed in thier direction to NOT develop nuclear weapons, IF they do so what? we can't change their path , we can only tell them , please don't. but why should we as the US and UK be the only ones to have nuclear weapons? The US are the only ones to have used it in war times , The rest of the world has been so **it scared in using them that fear itself is the detterent.
Why should the US and UK bully the rest of the world into not protecting itself?
And the fact that this topic has used 'pigeons' as spies is so laughable . what kind of spy equipment can you fit on a pigeon? a camera? witha range of 200m? a radio? to call for backup? COOCOO...The pigeons themselves can't draw factory layouts and give troop numbers , COOCOO..
Why can't we as a communty actually have a laugh in the bad times, and for the Iranians to go as far as to say they've arrested pigeons, they want to come to Trafalgar Square, they'd have a field day....

As a person who has many years of experience with homing pigeons, I will throw in a couple of thoughts.

The current ID bands in most of the world are an aluminum core with the lettering on a paper backing which is then embedded in a plastic material which forms to outside of the band.

Many years back the bands were pure aluminum with the letters embossed into the metal. The band came in several colors (anodized aluminum).

For competitive racing, RFID bands are placed on the birds. These can be encoded then read by a timing clock antenna as proof of arrival home. These are most likely black.



Birds know where home is and return there. They are generally taken to a second location, released and then fly back to home. If a bird is hanging around a place, it is most likely lost. Two spy birds both lost at the same place sound a bit of a stretch. The plan and training most likely would not have them lost at the target.

Not sure about the invisible strings but that sound like fishing line. May be someone at one time had the brilliant and cruel idea of tethering the bird by tying the line to the band.

Pigeons have been used as Aerial spies for years. This is Nothing New.


World War 1 Spy Pigeon:


Even more Spy pigeons:


Chinese Cyborg Pigeon (warning: gross)

Perhaps Iran has captured a Spy Pigeon with a more sophisticated camera, or a device that samplers the air above suspect areas.



[edit on 20-10-2008 by TruthTellist]

Originally posted by DataWraith
... what kind of spy equipment can you fit on a pigeon? a camera? witha range of 200m? a radio? to call for backup? COOCOO...The pigeons themselves can't draw factory layouts and give troop numbers , COOCOO..

Researchers have placed GPS and radio transmitters on pigeons to monitor their flight paths. So miniature equipment isn't out of the realm of possibility but I suspect the other usual monitoring systems are being used. This is obviously more fingering pointing to complain.

It is a real problem in that IRAN and others just want what many others in the world have.

My guess is that the pigeons are Israeli. Thats the only plausible explanation. The article didnt mention whether or not they were armed though (like drones). I would think that if Israel could fly a flock of say 20 or 25 pigeons armed with marble sized micro-nukes then significant damage could be done to the reactor site.

Iran's latest addition to their special forces.



Can be cheaply manufactured by the tens of thousands.

Range of hundreds of miles on a cup of grain.

Rumor's abound that this is a North Korean sub-species smuggled in inside cargo vessels supposedly carrying rice shipments. Iranian operatives are being smuggled in and out of North Korea for training in the new technology.

Both Iran and North Korea deny the existence of this weaponry and claim photo's like this are hoaxed.

reply to post by TruthTellist


bullseye,
pigeons are the pefect drones.
They dont set of Radar, or AA sites.
They come back, with all the data stored on their camera's etc etc

for people to dismiss this, simply because its a pigeon is pretty stupid.

you either seriously under estimate the west, or consider Iran to be utter fools, chasing pigeons with large nets.

truth is,
pigeons CAN and HAVE been used for spying.
look how small and complex camera's have gotten since the 20's, why is it so hard for people to believe we had something on this pigeon able to detect?

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Now that is quite possibly the funniest thing i have seen all year. Freaking hilarious man...you deserve some points for that one!

Originally posted by Blaine91555
Iran's latest addition to their special forces.

Can be cheaply manufactured by the tens of thousands.

Range of hundreds of miles on a cup of grain.

Rumor's abound that this is a North Korean sub-species smuggled in inside cargo vessels supposedly carrying rice shipments. Iranian operatives are being smuggled in and out of North Korea for training in the new technology.

Both Iran and North Korea deny the existence of this weaponry and claim photo's like this are hoaxed.