KARACHI, Feb 26: A man captured a falcon on Wednesday and handed it over to the police, who suspected that the falcon was on a spying mission as it was carrying a tracker with a battery and an antenna.

The police said a falcon landed on the roof of the Noor Cold Storage near New Subzimandi, where a large number of pigeons were being fed. Ramazan, owner of the pigeons, trapped the falcon and caught it. When Ramazan noticed that the falcon had some devices attached to its tail and legs, he handed it over to the police.

A duty officer at Gulzar-i-Hijri police station, Mazhar, told Dawn: “We are investigating whether the devices are meant for a spying as the Malir Cantonment and airport areas are close to where the falcon was caught.”

However, experts in wildlife said two kinds of falcons — saker falcon and pare-green falcon — migrated from Central Asia with Houbara Bastard to the South Asian region in winter. Some of the falcons were caught and tamed by Houbara hunters.