Parrot clams up after it was detained for warning owners of law enforcement presence in drug raid

Parrots are really smart: You can train them to speak multiple languages,and even sing opera. You can also apparently train your parrot to be a police lookout, which is exactly what some Brazilian drug dealers did. 

An unnamed parrot was taken into custody in northern Brazil following a police raid targeting crack dealers, according to a report by The Guardian. 

Police seized the bird in hopes of getting more information out of the loyal lookout, but according to Brazilian journalists, the faithful fowl kept its beak shut. 

The bird reportedly was taught to alert the criminals of nearby police and apparently was found cawing “Mum, the police!” in Portuguese right around the time that cops were preparing to raid the home of two suspected crack dealers in Vila Irmã Dulce, a neighborhood in northeast Brazil.

“He must have been trained for this,” local police told Brazilian media after the raid, The Guardian reports. “As soon as the police got close he started shouting.”

Unfortunately for the criminals, the feathered lookout was unable to warn its owners in time for the raid. Police were able to capture the alleged drug dealers even while the parrot squawked a warning of their arrival.  

The parrot was seized and brought back to the station for questioning, but the bird has chosen to plead the fifth and police have been unable to retrieve any further information.

According to the report, local vet Alexandre Clark told a Brazilian journalist that the loyal parrot was not cooperating with the police. “Lots of police officers have come by and he’s said nothing,” said Clark.  

The bird allegedly got off easy. The “papagaio do tráfico” (drug trafficking parrot) was eventually sent to a local zoo to be trained to fly and eventually released, according to the Brazilian broadcaster Globo.