Turkish authorities detained a bird on suspicion it was spying for Israel, but freed it after X-rays showed it was not embedded with surveillance equipment, newspapers said on Friday.
The kestrel aroused suspicion because of a metal ring on its foot carrying the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel," prompting residents in the village of Altinayva to hand it over to the local governor.
The bird was put in an X-ray machine at a university hospital to check for microchips or bugging devices, according to the Milliyet newspaper, which carried a front-page image of the radiogram with the title "Israeli agent."
The story adds to a long and growing list of animal "Mossad spies" that the intelligence services of Muslim nations have caught in recent years, including sharks off Egypt's Sinai coast as well as vultures thought by Iranian services to be working for the Israeli spy agency.
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