Police are holding six people in connection with the shooting and killing of a British helicopter pilot on Friday last week in the Maswa Game Reserve adjacent to |Serengeti National Park.
Roger Gower (37) was flying the 5HFGF chopper over the reserve when he was fired upon by suspected poachers who are believed to have just killed three elephants within the reserve’s boundaries.
Simiyu regional police commander Gemini Mushy told The Guardian yesterday that they had arrested six people who had confessed to killing the pilot.
“We have been in pursuit of the suspects since the incident happened, and they admitted during interrogation that they had a hand in Gower’s murder,” said Mushy while also confirming that the six were indeed poachers.
Gower’s death has caused an uproar within Tanzania’s tourism sector fraternity with calls growing for a stronger government commitment and more rigorous supportive anti-poaching training programme for park rangers.
The pilot is said to have successfully brought the helicopter down inside the reserve despite the gunshot wounds he suffered, only to pass away before rescuers found their way to the scene.
Pictures that circulated online showed the badly-damaged remains of the aircraft lying on its side, including a blood-stained bullet hole in the pilot's seat.
Nicky Bester, a South African friend who accompanied Gower on the flight, is said to have taken cover in a thicket after the chopper landed.
He has since been admitted in a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya where he was taken for treatment of minor injuries sustained in the incident.
Meanwhile, Gower’s relatives were reported to have arrived in Arusha to oversee burial arrangements.
“Tanzania had a special place in Gower’s heart…that is why his relatives are in town to make a decision over where to bury him,” said Pratik Patel, an official from the Friedkin Conservation Fund which owned the ill-fated helicopter.
A former accountant, Gower was a qualified pilot who has lived in Africa since 2006 and has been involved in British Army exercises within
the country, according to his official profile.
A Facebook post by his former employers, Tropic Air Kenya, said they were shocked and immensely saddened by the news of his murder while on a mission to save elephants in Tanzania.
"(He was) only 37 years old, a fantastic heli-pilot in every way, and flew for Tropic Air for four years, leaving last August to pursue new flying ambitions in Tanzania,” read the post.
“Bye bye Rog...you will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his family," it added.
In an interview with Sky News, Roger’s brother Max said he was generally proud of his sibling for all he had achieved.
"I'm proud of what he did. I'm proud he got his passenger down safely. I'm proud he got himself out of the helicopter and I'm proud that even after he was shot, he was still laughing," Max Gowers said.
He explained that Roger had become bored with his accountant job and quit the day he qualified as a pilot, so he could go and work with the two things he enjoyed most - flying and animals.
Max Gower has since set up a ‘Just Giving’ Facebook page aimed at raising £50,000 (Tshs 156 million) in his brother's memory.
“…Those who knew (Roger) will remember his idiosyncrasies but also his principles, his morality and his infectious love of having fun," he wrote.
Tanzania continues to wage a bitter struggle to stop rampant ivory poaching activities in the country, with a report released last year saying that 60 per cent of the country’s elephant population had been lost in the previous five years.
China is said to be the world's largest market for illegal African ivory.
Last October, a 66-year old Chinese businesswoman, Yang Feng Clan, was arrested and charged in Dar es Salaam over the smuggling of 1.9 tons of ivory worth over Tshs 5.4 billion from the country between 2000 and 2014.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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