Montreal (AFP)

The release of Pokémon Go in 2016 caught the Canadian army by surprise, faced with the sudden appearance on a military base of strangers trying to catch as many creatures of the mobile game using augmented reality, reveal internal documents obtained by public television.

In the space of a few weeks, millions of followers around the world went hunting for Pikachu and other imaginary creatures in real life thanks to Pokémon Go, sometimes venturing into strictly prohibited places.

More than three years later, documents obtained by the CBC under the Access to Information Act show how the Canadian army was surprised by the increase in the number of suspects intercepted in a short time on military bases across Canada after the release of the popular app.

Major Jeff Monaghan of the Kingston base in Ontario wrote in an email: "Please notify the commissioners that Fort Frontenac has apparently become a PokéGym and a PokéStop" for catching Pokémon.

"To be completely honest with you, I have no idea what this is about," he adds according to the CBC, which has got hold of nearly 500 pages of documents.

At least three military police officers, at different bases across the country, have even been given a singular mission: to explore these installations, phones and notebooks in hand, in search of virtual Pokémon infrastructures.

"We should almost hire a 12-year-old to help us," wrote a security expert from the Borden base north of Toronto.

At the entrance to this base, a woman was caught playing Pokémon Go with her three children, who were climbed on tanks.

On the same basis, when a man was arrested, he explained to an official that he was playing Pokémon Go and that he was simply looking to accumulate more points "to win against his children".

Shortly after the release of the application, the armed forces even had to publicly warn fans of the game not to venture to military bases in search of Pokémon.

More enthusiastically, a manager at the base in Petawawa, Ontario, a favorite place for Pokemon hunters, said in an email that "maybe more people will be visiting the museum!"

© 2020 AFP