Two turkeys are recovering after being cut open by drug smugglers and stuffed with five kilogrammes of cocaine

Police were amazed to find the drug surgically implanted in the bloated birds in Peru.

Acting on a tip-off, officers stopped a Turismo Ejecutivo SRL bus outside the city of Tarapoto in the central jungle state of San Martin, officials said.

Police were puzzled when they found the turkeys in the crate, but didn't find the cocaine, Tarapoto's anti-drug police chief Otero Gonzalez said.

They then noticed that the two turkeys were bloated.

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

A vet extracted 11 oval-shaped plastic capsules containing 1.9 kilograms (4.2 pounds) of cocaine from one turkey.

A further 17 capsules with 2.9 kilograms (6.4 pounds) were recovered from the other, he said.

Both turkeys survived the removal.