A parrot was taken into custody on Monday after nearly spoiling a raid while playing lookout for two crack-dealing suspects by repeatedly yelling, “Mamãe, polícia!” according to Brazilian police in the state of Piauí.
The phrase means, “Mama, police!”
Police encountered the unnamed parrot at the home of the two alleged crack cocaine dealers, perched inside a small brick one-story home with a windowless facade, Brazil’s R7 news channel reported. As police searched for the suspects, it seemed the lime-green bird knew exactly what to do.
“He must have been trained for this,” one officer involved in the operation said of the parrot’s attempt to interfere with law enforcement, the Guardian reported. “As soon as the police got close he started shouting.”
The bird’s efforts were not successful, however. Footage of the raid’s aftermath aired by R7 shows police cataloguing small bags of crack while the parrot sits obediently on a countertop next to a racecar helmet and a glass bottle. Its apparent owners, a man and teenage girl, were arrested, local newspaper Meio Norte reported.