刑務所の外で「密輸猫」捕獲、薬物詰めた袋装着　パナマ

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】南米パナマの地元当局は１６日、薬物を詰めた袋状の布を体に装着した猫を刑務所の外で捕獲した。刑務所内への密輸に利用されていたとみられている。（写真は薬物を詰めた袋状の布をくくり付けられている猫。パナマ検察当局提供）
　現場は首都パナマ市の北に位置するコロ県にある刑務所の外で、捕獲されたのは白猫。猫は刑務所の敷地内に入ろうとしていた。
　刑務所を管理する当局の幹部によると、猫は首の周りに袋状の布をくくり付けられ、中には白い粉、葉っぱ、さらには「植物性の物質」が入っていた。別の当局者によると、コカイン、クラック（喫煙タイプのコカイン）、マリフアナ（大麻）とみられている。
　同地では動物を使って刑務所に薬物を密輸する事案は珍しくなく、受刑者らは餌で動物をおびき寄せるという。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/04/19-16:03）

Authorities in Panama on Friday intercepted an unlikely smuggler, a fluffy white cat, bearing an assortment of drugs in a pouch tied to its body as it tried to enter a prison.
The feline felon 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.
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, according to another official.
This is not the first such attempted critter crime.
Prisoners use food to lure animals to them, once the creatures had been loaded with drugs by people on the outside.
The office of the drugs prosecutor of Colon said on Twitter it had opened an investigation into the use of animals for smuggling illegal substances into the Nueva Esperanza Prison.
It posted photographs of the drugs, and of the cat caught in the act.
The animal will be taken to a pet adoption center, according to prosecutor Eduardo Rodriguez.
Panama has some 18,000 inmates in 23 prisons, most of them overcrowded.
On previous occasions, authorities have intercepted attempted drug deliveries using homing pigeons and even drones.