BOGOTA, Colombia — A pigeon that carried 45 grams of drugs into a prison was found by police Tuesday a few meters away from a jail in the northern Colombian city of Bucaramanga.

The find exposed a drug transport method that even the authorities described as “”clever.””

Bucaramanga police commander Jose Mendoza said the pigeon was carrying 40 grams of marijuana and 5 grams of “”bazuco”” (a cheap mix of freebase cocaine and other substances) towards the Modelo prison. However, the bird could not reach its goal because the weight made it get tired, and it fell to the ground.

Police officers watching the area realized that the pigeon was trying to fly and sought to help the animal. They then realized that small packages had been tied to its wings.

Mendoza said it is not the first time that pigeon couriers have been “”recruited”” by criminals. The authorities recently found one bird that carried cell phone cards into a maximum-security prison in the central Colombian province of Boyaca, he said.