In this photo taken with a cell phone early Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, and released by Brazil's General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas (SGAP), guards hold a cat that has items taped to its body at a medium-security prison in Arapiraca, in Alagoas state, Brazil. A prison official says they caught the cat slipping through a prison gate with a cell phone, drills, small saws and other contraband taped to its body.General Superintendency of Prisons of Alagoas SGAP/The Associated Press
A cat carrying a saw and a mobile phone was "detained" as it entered a prison gate in northeast Brazil, Brazilian media reported on Saturday.
Prison guards were surprised when they saw a white cat crossing the main gate of the prison, its body wrapped with tape. A closer look showed the feline also carried drills, an earphone, a memory card, batteries and a phone charger.
All 263 detainees in the prison of Arapiraca, a city of 215,000 people in the state of Alagoas, are considered suspect in the plot, which is being investigated by local police.
"It's tough to find out who's responsible for the action as the cat doesn't speak," a prison spokesperson told local paper Estado de S.Paulo.
The cat was taken to an animal disease centre to receive medical care.
The cat had often been seen coming in and out of the jail.
Prison officer Luiz de Oliveira Souza told the G1 news website that prisoners had raised the cat and that relatives would often take it home after a prison visit.
The incident took place on New Year's day but was first reported by national media on Saturday.
With a report from Agence France-Presse