A bright yellow parrot by the name of Mango has been implicated in the takedown of a 15-member gang of narcotics dealers in the United Kingdom’s Lancashire.
The operation was being run by an incarcerated kingpin named Adam Garnett, who was discovered in possession of cellphones and routers in his cell, which he used to communicate with henchmen on the outside.
After following a trail of evidence, investigators uncovered footage of self-professed criminality, documentation of large amounts of contraband—and a video depicting one of the accused teaching their feathered accomplice street lingo.
Following a cell search, police raided the homes of three criminal lieutenants
Image credits: Lancashire Police
A public statement by the Lancashire Constabulary notes that it came upon what it deemed “illegal activities” when “Adam Garnett, who was already a serving prisoner, had a number of mobile phones and Wi-Fi routers discovered in a cell search.”
“Following enquiries after this find, Garnett’s second-in-command people were identified as Dalbir Sandhu, Shannon Hilton and Jason Gerrand.”
The police then searched the three’s homes, and there they uncovered “large quantities of dr*gs, cash, and phones,” all linking the gang to one another.
Image credits: Lancashire Police
“Cash, her*in, cr*ck co***ne, k***mine and can**bis, plus mobile phones were seized. These were forensically matched to the defendants,” the statement elaborated.
As a result, sentences amounting to 103 years were handed down
A phone belonging to Hilton, who was noted to be Garnett’s girlfriend, produced evidence of video calls between the two, while additional footage depicted “kilo blocks of co***ne, with music including the lyric ‘co***ne’ over the top.”
Image credits: Lancashire Police
It was among these videos that officials spotted Mango being schooled in the terminology used for their illicit street-level operations.
The constabulary report described what it saw as “footage of her teaching her pet parrot to say ‘two for 25’ in front of a child, and of the parrot playing with money which was gained through their illegal activities.”
The notice went on to say that “14 people who worked for [Garnett] have today been jailed for a total of more than 103 years, following an investigation into the supply of class A dr*gs in Blackpool.”
Readers are wondering whether Mango entered a plea deal
Image credits: Lancashire Police
The news has the internet’s imagination working overtime. One netizen envisioned an alternative reality and wrote:
“It would have been funnier if the parrot was saying ‘Gimme an eighth, gimme an eighth’ and the dr*g dealer’s lawyer gets them off because they claim they bought the parrot from a pirate and the parrot was actually saying ‘pieces of eight, pieces of eight.’”
Image credits: Lancashire Police
“Plot twist,” fantasized another. “Having removed its rivals, the parrot is now the new dr*gs kingpin of the West Midlands.”
One netizen saw a moral in the story and wrote: “This is why cats are the superior pet. They would never grass on their (Treat) dealer.”
Parrots are known to help police solve cases
Parrots helping the law crack cases is not a new phenomenon. In 2014, in the northern Indian city of Agra, the editor of a Hindi publication, Neelam Sharma, and her dog were found deceased.
Image credits: Lancashire Police
Local authorities could tell that they were victims of foul play, but had come up against a wall as far as clues were concerned.
Then her husband, Vijay, noticed that whenever his nephew, Ashutosh, came around or his name was mentioned, his parrot, Hercule, started screaming.
Vijay took this observation to the police, which led to Ashutosh being questioned. According to the Times of India, the nephew confessed to taking Neelam and her dog’s lives.
The culprit had counted on the dog recognizing him, but completely forgot about the parrot
Image credits: Half_A_Pond
A police statement elaborated:
“We checked his call details and took him into custody. He accepted his crime and informed us that he was accompanied by an accomplice. They had entered the house with the intention of taking away cash and other valuables.”
One netizen thinks it was an act of revenge after seeing his owner eating chicken wings
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