This gives a whole new meaning to cross-border infiltration, but it's not clear if it will add a feather in the cap of the Punjab police.

In an era of spy planes and satellites, the Amritsar (rural) police have detained a white pigeon that could have been -- the police claim -- used as a Pakistani spy.

The pigeon was reportedly spotted in Ramdas, a tiny town close to the Indo-Pak border, with a Pakistani stamp imprinted and a Pakistani phone number written on its feathers.

Excited residents took the bird to the nearest police station. The pigeon's fate will be decided once officials there decide what to do with it.

With news of the low-tech `spy' spreading, the police have kept the bird in a special cage. It was earlier simply locked in a room.