Cocaine 'hidden in live turkeys'

Peruvian police investigating a tip-off found nearly 5kg of cocaine hidden inside two live turkeys.

Officers discovered the drugs in oval-shaped plastic capsules sewn into the birds when they stopped a Turismo Ejecutivo SRL bus outside the city of Tarapoto in San Martin, The AP reports.

Anti-drugs police chief Otero Gonzalez said that officers did not find any cocaine when they first searched the crate but noted that the two live turkeys it contained were bloated.

"Lifting up the feathers of the bird in the chest area, police detected a handmade seam," he said.

One of the turkeys was found to contain 11 capsules holding 1.9kg of cocaine, while the other had 17 capsules weighing 2.9kg.

Both birds reportedly survived the operation to remove the narcotics.