Fifteen people behind bars because of a bird. Lancashire police (United Kingdom) recently dismantled a drug trafficking network that operated in the city of Blackpool, notably thanks to … a parrot.
The man who managed the network was already serving a sentence of 15 years in prison when the investigation started, a police statement published on August 4 said. A search in his cell made it possible to discover several mobile phones which had enabled him to continue to manage traffic, even incarcerated, between February 2023 and July 2024.
Additional 19 years in prison
On the smartphones were videos of a parrot shouting several times “two for 25, two for 25” as if he announced prices. On others, the bird played with batteries of cash, or large amounts of drugs were filmed. The images pushed the investigators to search the home of the tracker’s partner.
On the spot, they seized a large amount of drugs (cocaine, ketamine, cannabis, heroin) and money and then arrested fifteen people aged 21 to 50, including the girlfriend of the trafficker already condemned. The latter received 12 years in prison. The man already behind bars received him 19 years in prison in addition to the 15 years already pronounced.
We do not know what has become of the parrot since. In 2019, recalls West Francea parrot had been arrested and placed in police custody in a similar case. The bird had alerted the traffickers of the arrival of the police and had therefore been considered as an accomplice of the network.