The hunter who was involved in the incident, it turns out, is a Hunting Report subscriber, but he did not want to talk to us at press time on advice of his attorney. So, we made our own inquiries. It was difficult confirming just what happened, but it seems the arrest was entirely the fault of the hunter's outfitter or pilot, who appears to have put his client in the position of boarding a charter aircraft in Zimbabwe that was not even registered in that country. Moreover, the client did not have any Zimbabwe paperwork for his firearms. Our sources indicate the client did not actually hunt in Zimbabwe, but was merely transiting the country when the incident occurred.
If anything, the incident may demonstrate that hunters are continuing to be coddled by the Zimbabwean government, not harassed, as the client could have been arrested for arms smuggling or other high crimes. We understand government officials intervened to put an end to the incident as quickly as possible. The fine the hunter paid, we understand, amounted to about $100 US. As this is written, we have been told the pilot is still in jail in Zimbabwe.
We do not have the name of the outfitter/pilot who put his client in such jeopardy, but we are attempting to find out. For sure, we will publish his name and contact details if we find out. Anyone with information in that regard is urged to get in touch with us.........(continued)
