A man in Chongqing confessed to stealing carrier pigeons worth 1 million yuan ($161,200), Chongqing Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

On Feb 28, Zhang Xin got on a bus with a big woven bag. The bus driver surnamed Dai was suspicious of the man's bag and chatted with him.

Zhang said he had purchased 30 pigeons from a village in the Dadu district.

As Dai was a member of the Dadu district carrier pigeon association, he knew nobody dealt in pigeons in the village and pretended to be a buyer, asking Zhang to open the bag.

Dai saw rings tied to the pigeons, a sign that they were carrier pigeons.

Dai then took a picture of Zhang through the bus' rearview mirror before he started driving the bus.

After his shift was over, Dai learned the carrier pigeons of a man in the district were stolen.

Thanks to the picture, police nabbed Zhang, 23, on Monday.

Zhang admitted that he had come to the village to steal pigeons seven times from mid-February to early March and sold them at 15 yuan each to pay his debt and surf on the Internet. The pigeons' actual price ranged from 400 yuan to 30,000 yuan.