THE anti-poaching unit (APU) member who shot a suspected rhino poacher in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) on Thursday was released by Hluhluwe police who had intended arresting him for murder.
According to the attorney who prevented his arrest, the member, whose name cannot be published for safety reasons, shot the suspected poacher, but did not kill him.
He was reportedly killed by police officers in the joint operation.
‘Working as a section 252 informer, the APU member is indemnified from prosecution,’ said the attorney, who spent most of Friday arguing for the member’s release.
A section 252 operation is when permission is requested from the Attorney General to carry out illegal activities to infiltrate syndicates and catch criminals.
The organisation and its members then become registered 252 informers, indemnifying them against prosecution for such illegal behaviour.
They are, however, not indemnified against arrest.
Communication gap
‘There was a communication gap between the 252 operatives and investigating officers in Hluhluwe, resulting in their intended arrest of the member,’ said the attorney.
‘The APU member is unlikely to be prosecuted and is not under arrest at this time’.
The shootout occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning near the cattle grid on the R618 (corridor road through HiP) on the Hlabisa side of the park.
Rangers who heard a gunshot came across the carcass of a poached, de-horned rhino.
A skirmish ensued and the suspected poacher was killed.
Two rhino horns and a weapon were recovered at the scene. A further two rhino carcasses, with horns intact, were discovered further north in the Hluhluwe section of the park. At mid-afternoon on Thursday, the body of a second suspected poacher was discovered closer to Hlabisa town.
It is believed KZN’s total number of poached rhinos for this year now stands at 100.
