A week after three suspected poachers were shot dead by the anti poaching unit inside the Chobe National Park in Kasane, their bodies are still to be identified by next of kin while their nationalities have been released.
Detective Superintendent Peloentle Morolong of the Criminal Investigation Department said three of the dead suspects have been identified as Zambian nationals.
He said they are working round the clock with their Zambian counterparts to trace the families of the deceased so that they can identify them and provide police with their real names.
“We are optimistic that their families will be found and that they will be able to identify the bodies,” said Morolong.
He added that he could not say exactly when the families will be taken to the mortuary to identify the corpses.
Morolong added that post mortems had not been conducted as yet, stressing that they will nevertheless be conducted as required by law.
He said police investigations are still ongoing.
Their deaths came after they exchanged gunfire with the anti poaching unit inside the Chobe National Park but one of them managed to cross back into Zambia.
Police said that two mobile phones with Zambian SIM cards and 12 elephant tusks were recovered from the dead suspects.
The police reported that between April and July of this year about 16 elephants were killed and their tusks removed but no suspects were arrested.
