And as more details emerge, the case of this drug plane landing sounds more and more like a scene straight out of a Netflix series, dirty cops and all.
But the family of Corporal Eric Young insists that he is innocent and that he had been out hunting - as he does regularly. You've heard the ComPol mock this alibi, saying that they were hunting for drugs rather than game.
But his attorney says that the evidence of his hobby is all over social media, in pictures that he takes of his kills. And those pictures made it to LoveFM's Facebook yesterday, when they posted them with the caption "Love News has obtained pictures reportedly taken this weekend. The pictures show two of the men posing with game meat… it is expected that their attorney will use these pictures to successfully convince the court to grant bail." End quote.
Well, the family cleared up that the pictures weren't from this past weekend and the men did not get bail in court. And today the ComPol condemned the media house for posting erroneous information.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Let me say I was appalled to have seen that some media house or media houses took it to themselves to post pictures of these detainees with game, how irresponsible to suggest that because these men in the past had been hunters, that on that particular night, they were hunting game. Common sense, if you are accustomed to hunting in a particular area, it gives you intimate knowledge of the area and you'd be an ideal person to be used by these traffickers because you can assist them to maneuvers the jungles. So yes maybe in the past they were hunters but on that particular night, they were hunting perhaps one thing, cocaine."
"There was no game in their vehicle and the way it was put out by the media was to suggest that on that particular night, they had game, which is not so."
Police said that the alleged hunters claimed that they fired no shots nor did they kill any game during this hunting trip. Now that the drugs have been found, they will also face charges for drug trafficking. We note that it is illegal to hunt in a forest reserve like Mountain Pine Ridge.
