Criminal has unwell bird, reportedly (7)

I believe the answer is:

illegal

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'criminal' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'unwell bird reportedly' is the wordplay.
'unwell' becomes 'i'll' (similar in meaning).
'bird reportedly' becomes 'egal' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ill'+'egal'='ILLEGAL'

'has' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for illegal that I've seen before include "Unlawful" , "Contraband" , "Outlawed" , "crooked" , "Wrong" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Times.

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