An airport cleaner who helped catch a notorious egg smuggler is to be given an award later.
John Struczynski became suspicious of Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, and found discarded egg boxes at Birmingham Airport in May.
Lendrum was arrested and found in possession of 14 peregrine falcon eggs. He was jailed for 30 months in August.
Mr Struczynski will be presented with a limited edition bird print by the environment minister and the RSPB.
Lendrum, of York Close, Towcester, Northamptonshire, was arrested by counter-terrorism officers as he waited to board a flight to Dubai.
Dry shower cubicle
He was caught with the rare eggs, valued at £70,000 on the black market, strapped to his body.
Lendrum, who had previous convictions in Zimbabwe and Canada for stealing rare eggs, had asked to use a shower room in the VIP Emirates Lounge.
But Mr Struczynski spotted him dashing in and out the cubicle. He became suspicious when he noticed the cubicle was still dry.
He checked bins in the room nearby where he discovered two discarded egg boxes, which contained a single red-coloured egg.
The cleaner contacted counter-terrorism officers who searched Lendrum.
The former member of the Rhodesian SAS had wrapped the eggs, which had been stolen from a nest in south Wales, in socks before taping them to his chest to keep them warm.
'Significant catch'
Andy McWilliam, investigations officer for the National Wildlife Crime Unit, said: "Jeffrey Lendrum was operating at the highest global level of wildlife crime. This is a significant catch."
At first Lendrum claimed they were chicken eggs he had bought at Waitrose before trying to fool police by saying he used them to treat his bad back.
However, at Warwick Crown Court in August, he admitted attempting to smuggle rare bird eggs out of Britain.
After the eggs were seized by police, 11 of them were successfully hatched and the highly-protected chicks released back into the wild.
Environment Minister Richard Benyon said: "Tackling the persecution of birds of prey is a wildlife crime priority across the whole of the UK and strong legislation is in place to protect and conserve our wildlife.
"I am grateful to Mr Struczynski for his quick thinking which helped to bring a peregrine falcon egg smuggler to justice."
Mr Struczynski will be presented with a framed limited edition print of an avocet and thanked by RSPB conservation director Mark Avery and police at a ceremony in Birmingham.
The eggs were incubated in socks!
The birds were fostered by captive-bred falcons and have since been released into the wild!
