In October this year, a pigeon was taken into custody by the Border Security Force at Pathankot, for carrying a threatening note written in Urdu addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was signed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Before that, it was in Ghesal village, Gurdaspur, that two balloons were spotted with messages tied to them. Last year, another pigeon had been arrested in the same area with a wire-like object strapped to its body. It is not known if this was a listening device or if there was a plan to implode a suicide-courier pigeon. Relations between India and Pakistan have hit substantial lows, but nothing quite tells its tale as the trail of espionage.

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Pakistani spy Mahmood Akhtar, a staffer of the Pakistani High Commission, now declared ‘persona non grata', is just the latest upgrade. Akhtar was detained with sensitive documents in his possession, but had to be released when he invoked diplomatic immunity. Two Rajasthan residents found with Akhtar, Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangir, were arrested under the Official Secrets Act. It is alleged the Pakistan High Commission agent was recruiting Indians to spy for them. It's not the first time they've been caught out. Last year, five men were arrested from the Pakistani High Commission.

There is in intelligence circles, a concerted move back to the basics of spying. This comes even as there is increasing technology used to crack messaging: aerial dragnets to monitor drones, specially-developed capabilities such as the U2 Spy Plane that recently crashed in California, satellite tracking, the deep web, and hyper encrypted messaging services. That's to break into enemy messaging. To send out your own, nothing quite works like the good old ways. The Dutch National Police are training eagles to snatch drones out of the sky. The pigeons are back in business, and honey trapping is still the best way to reach operatives, for there is a limit to the resistance a man offers against seduction. Varun Gandhi recently vehemently denied allegations of having been honey trapped by an arms dealer. One of the most legendary cases involved KV Unnikrishnan, an officer with the Research and Analysis Wing, by a Pan Am airhostess-US operative. He was arrested in 1987. The trick is clearly still in circulation. Despite what the spy thrillers would have us believe, the basics rule. Animals, and birds, simple covers in public places, (an old Parsi-run restaurant in Mumbai is a favourite with the intelligence) and the latest detention made in the Delhi zoo. After all, men squeal quickly, but they're still getting the pigeon to talk.