Press service of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service for the Republic of Komi via AP

Guards patrolling a prison colony in Russia's north saw a cat scaling the fence and noticed something a little fishy, The Associated Press reports.

On closer inspection, they found several cellphones and chargers taped to the animal's belly.

The feline's clandestine mission took place at Penal Colony No. 1 in Komi province, some 600 miles northeast of Moscow.

But was it a copycat crime? Last December, a Brazilian kitty was caught delivering contraband to inmates at a Brazilian prison.

The fate of the Russian cat is unknown, according to The Moscow Times.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Photo taken on May 31, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Penitentiary System Of Alagoas / AFP - Getty Images

A penitentiary agent holds a cat with a package of tools and a mobile phone taped to its body at Luiz de Oliveira Souza prison in Arapiraca, Alagoas, Brazil. Brazilian authorities captured the cat, which was entering the prison with a saw, bits for hand drills, a mobile phone, batteries and a charger. The cat belonged to the prisoners and was frequently taken by relatives to their homes, returning to the prison on its own.

Alagoas state prisons spokeswoman Cinthya Moreno says that the cat was caught New Year's Eve at the medium-security prison in the city of Arapiraca.

The O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported Saturday that all of the prison's 263 inmates are suspects in the smuggling attempt, though it says a prison spokesman said, "It will be hard to discover who is responsible since the cat does not speak."

-- Reported by the Associated Press

AP

Items retrieved from the cat are displayed by authorities.

Steve Back / Rex Features

British Prime Minister David Cameron's cat Larry and Chancellor George Osborne's cat Freya fight in Downing Street, London, on Tuesday.

LONDON - Downing Street, where the head of Britain's government resides right next door to the man who holds the nations' purse strings, has witnessed its fair share of spats over the years.

But the fur flew for real Tuesday when two cats from each official residence -- known colloquially as Number 10 and Number 11 -- traded paws in a brief bout of feline fury.

Larry, Prime Minister David Cameron's cat, was pictured taking a claw to the throat from Freya, Chancellor George Osborne's pet.

Witnesses said Larry quickly withdrew to the safety of his home, leaving Freya one-up in the cat-on-cat contest.

Read the story by NBC News' British partner ITV News

This is not the first time that Larry has let down the side since joining Downing Street from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, an animal shelter in southwest London, almost two years ago.  He was brought in on the reputed strength of his mousing skills to deal with at least one rat seen scurrying past the door of Number 10. (Click here to see Number 10's official version on Storify).

But his career got off to a rocky start, drawing blood from a TV reporter.

Click here for more stories about Larry the cat  

To compound this first PR faux pas, it took Larry months to nail his first rodent victim, the Guardian reported.

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Craig Lassig / AP

Leroy Bergstrom of Maple Plain, Minn. arrives with his cat Maestro before the Walker Art Center's first "Internet Cat Video Film Festival," showcasing the best of cat films on the Internet in Minneapolis on August 30, 2012.

Craig Lassig / AP

The Associated Press reports — The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis tested the boundaries of legitimate art Thursday with a film festival devoted to the online cat videos that pervade YouTube and social networks. 

Organizers said they wanted to find out whether the private experience of viewing the videos online would translate to a shared and social experience when shown on an outdoor screen on the museum's grounds.

The festival made room for various kinds of cat videos, with categories for comedy, drama, foreign, animated, musical, art-house and documentary. Participants voted on a "People's Choice" award, and several "lifetime achievements" were handed out to a few of the all-time popular videos. Read the full story.

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Craig Lassig / AP

Melisande Charles of St. Paul, Minn., center, sits in the audience.

Bruce Chambers / The Orange County Register via AP

Held by his owner, Clyde, a pitbull, is given oxygen by Garden Grove Fire Department Captain Jeff Wilkins, right, on Thursday, June 21, 2012 in Garden Grove, Calif.

Bruce Chambers / The Orange County Register via AP

A firefighter sprays water inside the burned home.

AP reports: Twenty firefighters from Garden Grove and Anaheim put out a house fire in Garden Grove, California on Thursday. According to Garden Grove Battalion Chief Chuck Green, the firefighters arrived to heavy smoke coming from a back bedroom. Two occupants of the home got out on their own but firefighters rescued two dogs and two cats inside the home.

Full story.

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Bruce Chambers / The Orange County Register via AP

Garden Grove Fire Department Captain Albert Acosta, left, struggles with a cat that was rescued.

Bruce Chambers / The Orange County Register via AP

Garden Grove Fire Department Captain Albert Acosta checks on the welfare of a cat named Magic, as Magic's owner Norma Arbotast finishes the cat's oxygen treatment on Thursday.

John Moore / Getty Images

Grieving pet owner Spencer Warren opens the casket of his beloved 12-year-old beagle-hound Justin in the viewing room of the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery and Crematory on April 30 in Hartsdale, New York. Warren, an Annandale, Virginia attorney, had traveled with Justin's body to bury him here on a shady hillside. The cemetery, established in 1896, is the oldest pet cemetery in the United States and serves as the final resting place for tens of thousands of pets. Pet owners can spend as much as $20,000 for a large plot to bury multiple pets and as little as $300-400 for small plots to bury ashes if they choose cremation. Pet owners also have the option of eventually having their own ashes buried in the plot, alongside their pets.

John Moore / Getty Images

Pet chaplain David James conducts a graveside service for Justin, a twelve-year-old beagle-hound at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery and Crematory.

John Moore / Getty Images

Graves and tombs mark pets' final resting place at the Hartsdale Pet Cemetery and Crematory.

John Moore / Getty Images

Maddalena Sullivan visits a grave on the two-month anniversary of the death of her cat Spanky.

John Moore / Getty Images

A gravestone marks a pet's final resting place.

See more images of pets in PhotoBlog, and animals of all kinds in Animal Tracks. 

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Photos by Susana Vera / Reuters

A dog rests on a church pew before mass at San Anton Church in Madrid on Jan. 17, 2012.

The Associated Press reports that dogs, cats, rabbits and even turtles, many dressed in their finest, trooped into churches across Spain on Tuesday in search of a blessing on Saint Anthony's Day. Pet owners lined up around the block of the Church of San Anton in central Madrid behind blue metal barriers to wait for a priest to sprinkle holy water on their animals.

"In the name of San Anton, receive this blessing," the priest, decked out in white robes, said as he blessed the animals presented to him in the doorway of the church.

A cat sits on its owner's shoulder after being blessed outside Madrid's San Anton Church.

A girl holds her turtle after getting it blessed outside San Anton Church.

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Steven Senne / AP

A cat with two faces, named Frank and Louie, sits on a mat in his home in Worcester, Mass. The animal is known as a Janus cat, named for the figure in Roman mythology with two faces on one head. The owner calls the face on the left Frank, while the face on the right she identifies as Louie.

AP reports:

WORCESTER, Mass. — Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes — and lots of doubts about his future.

Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being euthanized because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving, but has also made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.

Carl Court / AFP - Getty Images

A police officer encourages 'Larry', the Downing Street cat, into 10 Downing Street before a photocall involving British Prime Minister David Cameron and BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer in central London, UK, on June 9.

As regular readers will know, Larry is no stranger to PhotoBlog. Take a look back at his previous escapades:

Royal feline fever! Larry gets in the royal wedding spirit

British Prime Minister hires a professional cat