Smuggled vulture eggs hatch on Heathrow flight
A MAN has been arrested at Heathrow airport after two rare vulture eggs hidden in a body belt hatched in transit.
The 56-year-old arrived in London on a flight from South Africa and, when he was stopped and searched, officers found 19 eggs as well as the newly hatched chicks.
The eggs are from rare and endangered South African birds of prey including vultures, eagles, hawks and kites, the Home Office said.
Border Force specialists said they were protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The suspect, thought to be Irish, was arrested and bailed on Tuesday pending further inquiries. The investigation has been passed to the National Crime Agency.
The chicks and remaining eggs were quickly transported to Heathrow Animal Reception Centre, where the eggs were incubated and taken to a specialist facility.
Animal smuggling is a criminal industry worth billions, as demand for rare and exotic species is huge. In 2010, Jeffrey Lendrum, a prolific egg smuggler, was jailed for trying to take 14 rare peregrine falcon eggs out of the UK. He was booked on a flight to South Africa via Dubai but was arrested at Birmingham airport when a cleaner noticed him acting suspiciously. Officers found eggs in socks that were bound to his body to keep them warm. Lendrum said the strapping was to help cure his back pain.
The eggs were worth £70,000 on the black market in Dubai, where falconry is a national sport. Lendrum admitted stealing them from a nest on the side of a mountain in south Wales.
In 2016, the former member of the Rhodesian SAS was caught in Brazil with four falcon eggs stolen from Patagonia and jailed for four years. He has also been caught smuggling in Zimbabwe and Canada. But he vanished last January when he was released on bail in Brazil to appeal against sentencing.