.png)
.png)
.png)
Jailed for smuggling Peregrine falcon eggs
A bird fancier has been jailed for trying to smuggle rare stolen-to-order Peregrine Falcon eggs to Dubai.
Jeffrey Lendrum was caught acting suspiciously at Birmingham Airport in the United Kingdom in May.
He was due to board a Dubai-bound Emirates Airline flight and had 14 of the endangered animal’s eggs strapped to his chest in socks.
The 48-year-old pleaded guilty to stealing the eggs of the world’s fastest animal, which can reach speeds of more than 300kmph, from a nest in Wales in the UK.
Warwick Crown Court heard how he was on route to South Africa with a 14-hour layover in Dubai where he had arranged to handover the cargo to a UAE collector.
Wildlife experts estimate Lendrum could have been paid up to dhs400,000 for delivery of the package.
Eleven of the chicks survived and have since been released into the wild in Scotland.
The Zimbabwean-Irish national was sentenced to 30 months in jail.
