A father and his three children, clad in camouflage and carrying large backpacks, were spotted by a pair of teenage hunters on a remote New Zealand farm before their brief encounter.
Two boys who came face to face with a family missing in the New Zealand wilderness for three years have revealed what one of the children said in their rare encounter.
Police made repeated public appeals under the broadened Operation Marokopa, established to find the missing family, as fears for Phillips and his children’s welfare grew by the day. Members of the public desperate to help conducted their own searches. How Phillips and his children have survived years in the bush and evaded authorities since going on the run is not known, but police suspect he has been helped by supporters.Loyalty trumps reward
Authorities have played an almost three-year game of cat and mouse with Phillips, who has been captured on CCTV several times since going on the run and is wanted on outstanding warrants for a range of alleged offending including the armed hold-up of a bank in Te Kuiti last May. In September, he was charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and unlawful possession of a firearm and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
“Police would like to thank the public for information received, following appeals for information in the last few days. Investigators are now working through information received,” Superintendent Bruce Bird said at the time.
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