Smuggler facing jail in Brazil over eggs

A PROLIFIC smuggler who has been convicted of trafficking four endangered peregrine falcon eggs to South Africa could face extradition to Brazil, a court has heard.

Jeffrey Lendrum, 58, was sentenced to four years and six months in jail in Brazil after being arrested trying to board a flight from Sao Paulo to Johannesburg on December 21, 2015, with the delicate cargo in his bag, but he later left the country.

In January last year Lendrum, who has been dubbed the Pablo Escobar of eggs, was handed a jail sentence of three years and one month in the UK after being caught at Heathrow Airport with endangered eggs strapped to his body in a sling underneath a heavy coat.

Lendrum appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday via a videolink from HMP Wandsworth for an extradition case management hearing.

His lawyer Florence Iveson told the court that there are likely to be “complications” in the case because of plans in Brazil to house him in a cell with more than 20 other prisoners.

She said each inmate only has an average of around 2.25 square metres of space.

Speaking about the quality of prison cells in the country, Ms Iveson added: “In the history of Brazilian extradition matters, there has been a failure to ever ultimately provide suitable assurances.”

In 2010, Lendrum was jailed at Warwick Crown Court for 30 months after trying to export peregrine falcon eggs from Birmingham Airport to Dubai.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has previously estimated there are 1,500 pairs of the falcons in the UK, according to its website.

Lendrum is set to make a further appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a bail application hearing on January 30.