(2) Based on this report, New York Times helpfully adds information.
Keith Bradsher, 带信鸽坐高铁，两名男子在赛鸟中作弊获刑. 纽约时报中文网, Aug 30, 2018
, which is translated from
Keith Bradsher, Trying to Pull Fast One, Pigeon Racers Are Too Fast. NYT, Aug 30, 2018.
Quote:
"Bullet trains travel much faster than homing pigeons. * * * Pigeons have been clocked at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour for short stretches, and more than 80 miles an hour for hundreds of miles. * * * [but] high-speed rail * * * can travel at nearly 200 miles an hour.
In the world (not just in China): "Homing pigeon races are a sport dating back at least to the 1800s.
"birds [pigeons] are released from Shangqiu in Henan Province, which is 462 miles northwest of Shanghai by road, or 405 miles as the pigeon flies.
From Shangqiu "the two men caught the [four birds] birds there [which they had raised] and then carried them on a bullet train back to Shanghai, concealed in milk cartons. (China prohibits live animals on bullet trains.) * * * The men had released the birds too soon [in Shanghai for pigoens' Shangai home], shattering records for the race. Driving from Shangqiu to Shanghai, a distance roughly equal to New York City to Raleigh, NC, takes nearly eight hours, and racing pigeons usually take almost as long. But the bullet train takes as little as three hours and 18 minutes.
Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest.
(b) Regarding the phrase "pull a fast one," The Phrasefinder.com says, "Origin: Checked several usual references, and nothing is to be found."