Prison guards have discovered a ‘narco cat’ roaming around a Costa Rican jail with marijuana and crack strapped to its body.
According to a statement on Facebook from the country’s Ministry of Justice, officers at the Pococi Penitentiary spotted the unlikely smuggler on the prison grounds on May 6 before capturing it.
Prison staff were suspicious of grey patches on the feline’s fur and decided to take a closer look.
The patches turned out to be bags filled with narcotics – including a bag containing 236 grams of marijuana, and another containing 86 grams of crack cocaine.
Footage shows the moment prison officers found the feline felon as it climbed a tree on prison grounds.
A separate clips shows how authorities carefully removed the illegal substances off the cat’s body.
The drugs were seized by authorities and the cat was handed over to the National Animal Health service for an evaluation.
It is common for animals to be used to smuggle narcotics into Costa Rican prisons, the Free Press Journal reports.
Prison guards discovered a ‘narco cat’ roaming around a Costa Rican jail with marijuana and crack strapped to its body
Officers at the Pococi Penitentiary spotted the unlikely smuggler on the prison grounds on May 6 before capturing it
The feline was carrying a bag containing 236 grams of marijuana, and another containing 86 grams of crack cocaine
Prisoners are said to use food to lure animals to them, once they have been loaded with drugs by people on the outside.
This is not the first time a feline has been caught smuggling drugs into a prison.
It comes four years after authorities in Panama intercepted a fluffy white cat bearing an assortment of drugs in a pouch tied to its body as it tried to enter a prison.
The was stopped outside the Nueva Esperanza jail, which houses more than 1,700 prisoners, in the Caribbean province of Colon, north of the capital Panama City, back in 2021.
‘The animal had a cloth tied around its neck’ that contained wrapped packages of white powder, leaves and ‘vegetable matter’, according to Andres Gutierrez, head of the Panama Penitentiary System.
They were likely cocaine, crack and marihuana, another official said.
The latest discovery of a ‘narco cat’ trying to enter a Costa Rican prison comes after the country’s president, Rodrigo Chaves, took another step in his shift toward a tough-on-crime stance, announcing plans to build a new prison modelled on the maximum security prison in El Salvador.
The drugs were seized by authorities and the cat was handed over to the National Animal Health service
It is common for animals to be used to smuggle narcotics into Costa Rican prisons
Prisoners are said to use food to lure animals to them, once they have been loaded with drugs by people on the outside
In addition to building a new prison, Chaves said the small shops selling things inside existing prisons would be shut down.
Permission for conjugal visits would be restricted and authorities would tighten the ability of families to bring food to inmates.
The restrictions were aimed at stopping drugs being brought into prisons and other illicit activities, he said.
