A 56-year-old man has been charged with trying to smuggle 19 rare birds' eggs from South Africa through Heathrow Airport .
Two recently hatched vultures were among the stash which included eggs from endangered African fish eagles and African sparrow hawks.
Irish national, Jeffery Paul Lendrum, who had been living in Johannesburg, South Africa, was arrested by Border Force at Heathrow Airport on June 26.
The smuggling investigation was passed to the National Crime Agency (NCA) and on Tuesday (July 24) Lendrum was charged by NCA officers with importing endangered species.
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He was due to appear before Uxbridge Magistrates court on Wednesday (25 July).
According to the NCA many of the eggs recovered at Heathrow have now hatched, and the birds are being cared for at a specialist bird of prey conservation centre.
