Russian prison intercepts cat carrying drugs hidden in homemade collars

Guards at a Russian prison were shocked to intercept a drug mule with a difference this week.

Authorities at a correctional facility in the Nizhny Novgorod region, in Western Russia, discovered a cat attempting to smuggle substances into the building.

The feline felon was intercepted by officers on Tuesday, July 21.

According to the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, officials at Correctional Colony No. 17 discovered two homemade fabric collars attached to the animal.

Prison staff with sniffer dogs spotted the cat before it entered the facility, intercepted the animal, and confiscated the collars.

The collars were removed and the substances were confirmed as narcotics and the drugs were confiscated.

Authorities said that the cat then underwent a health check and was released back into the wild. It was not injured during the intervention, they added.

A translated post by the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia on the messaging app Telegram read:

“Criminals used a cat to deliver narcotics to correctional colony No. 17. The staff of the correctional facility found two homemade fabric collars with prohibited substances on the animal.

“The mustachioed courier had to sneak in and deliver the illegal package to the convicts. But vigilant officers prevented the attempt to transfer narcotics.

“A cynologist with a service dog arrived on the scene, which confirmed the presence of drugs in the collar.

“After the seizure of prohibited substances, the employees were convinced that everything was fine with the fluffy intruder, after which he was released.”

Authorities did not provide information about the people behind the smuggling attempt or the type of drugs found.

Last year, in similar scenes, police in Costa Rica caught a cat carrying hard drugs into a prison.

According to the country’s Ministry of Justice, an officer at Pococí Penitentiary spotted the animal in the prison’s green zone and raised the alarm on 6 May 2025.

A video posted on the ministry’s Facebook page shows packages taped to the cat being cut off with scissors.

Authorities said the cat was carrying 235.65g of marijuana and 67.76g of heroin.