A post on Facebook claims that a white man was arrested in Zambia for luring hawkers into his house and feeding them to his pet snake.
The post includes two photos, one of a huge snake and the other of a handcuffed white man being escorted by two uniformed police officers. The post says neighbours alerted the police that they “only see girls go into his house and don't see them come out”.
“When the police went in to verify, they saw this huge python in one of his rooms,” the post reads. “On further investigations, the white man confessed that he goes out to pick the street hawkers and pays them for sex only to feed them to his pet the python.”
The story was also posted on a Kenyan Facebook page and shared widely. It was published on a Kenyan Facebook group page with over a million members and appears on a football group page.
Bloggers have also carried the story.
But Facebook users expressed doubts about it, pointing out that the uniforms in the one photo are worn by administration police in Kenya – not Zambia.
The photo of the handcuffed white man was published in Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper in 2013. He’s identified as Baha Ukes, a New Zealand national who was arrested in the Kenyan town of Meru in November 2013 on suspicion of being involved in a child trafficking and pornography syndicate.
And reverse image search for the photo of the giant snake finds many copies, but none linked to Zambia or the arrest of Ukes. It was first published online in 2014, on a Vietnamese website.
The post has also been checked by Lead Stories and found to be false. – Dancan Bwire
The post includes two photos, one of a huge snake and the other of a handcuffed white man being escorted by two uniformed police officers. The post says neighbours alerted the police that they “only see girls go into his house and don't see them come out”.
“When the police went in to verify, they saw this huge python in one of his rooms,” the post reads. “On further investigations, the white man confessed that he goes out to pick the street hawkers and pays them for sex only to feed them to his pet the python.”
The story was also posted on a Kenyan Facebook page and shared widely. It was published on a Kenyan Facebook group page with over a million members and appears on a football group page.
Bloggers have also carried the story.
Users identify Kenyan police uniforms
But Facebook users expressed doubts about it, pointing out that the uniforms in the one photo are worn by administration police in Kenya – not Zambia.
The photo of the handcuffed white man was published in Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper in 2013. He’s identified as Baha Ukes, a New Zealand national who was arrested in the Kenyan town of Meru in November 2013 on suspicion of being involved in a child trafficking and pornography syndicate.
And reverse image search for the photo of the giant snake finds many copies, but none linked to Zambia or the arrest of Ukes. It was first published online in 2014, on a Vietnamese website.
The post has also been checked by Lead Stories and found to be false. – Dancan Bwire
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