GPS equipped Spy Vulture detained in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities have nabbed a vulture on suspicion of spying for Israel’s espionage agency Mossad after it was found bearing a tag of Tel Aviv university, local media reported.

The bird had strayed into the Saudi Arabian territory and was found in a rural area wearing a transmitter and a leg bracelet bearing the words “Tel Aviv University”, Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported.

The tag could indicate that the vulture was a part of a long-term research project into migration patterns, but residents and local reporters told Saudi Arabia’s Al-Weeam newspaper that the matter seemed to be a “Zionist plot,” the report said.

The accusations went viral, with hundreds of posts on Arabic-language websites and forums claiming that the “Zionists” had trained these birds for espionage. In a similar story, the Sinai regional Governor last month suggested that a shark that killed and maimed tourists on its Red Sea port may have been intentionally released by Israeli agents in order to sabotage the country’s tourist industry.

“What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark in the sea to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question. But it needs time to confirm,” Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha was then quoted by the British Sun newspaper as saying.