MOSCOW Detectives in Russias far east were on using tanks and helicopters to comb the regions coniferous forests and swamps for a gang of avenging outlaws who have carried out a series of attacks on police.

Dubbed the “Russian Rambos”, the group shot dead a policeman last month in the village of Rakitnoye in the Primorye Krai region. They wounded three officers in two further attacks near the town of Spassk, officials say — shooting up a patrol and ambushing a car.

The gangs leader is said to be 32-year-old Roman Muromtsev, a former army officer and Chechen war veteran, who sent a warning letter to police last month. In it, he said local people had grown utterly fed up with police corruption and lawlessness. Unless the force mended its criminal ways, he would be compelled to act as a “peoples avenger”, he threatened.

The outlaws made good their threat last month, setting fire to a police station in the regions Yakovlev district. They have reportedly seized uniforms, flak jackets and radio communications equipment. The gang are armed with automatic weapons, explosives and even grenades, officials claim.

In a defiant message posted on the web, Muromtsev called on fellow Russians to join his “war” against police “evil”, adding that he was prepared to sacrifice his life for the cause. The authorities have now launched a special operation — dispatching armoured vehicles into the forests and flagging down and searching cars on main highways.

The gangs exploits have gripped the Russian media. More shocking, however, is the publics reaction — with 70% of Russians, according to one radio poll, describing the gang members as “partisans” or “Robin Hoods”. Only 30% considered the police killers to be bandits, the poll revealed. One blogger even compared them to Che Guevara.

“We are in shock over remarks left on the internet,” policeman Mikhail Konstantinov said. “People are saying its OK to kill police officers and are even congratulating the criminals who do it. Its horrible. Theres no escaping the fact that a young policeman has been killed for simply doing his job,” he told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. Russias police force has suffered a catastrophic loss of public confidence following a series of scandals. In April last year off-duty police chief Denis Yevsyukov opened fire in a Moscow supermarket, killing two people and wounding seven. The case opened the floodgates for a series of media reports accusing the police of beatings, torture, rapes, drug trafficking, racketeering, bribe-taking and other crimes.

The father of one alleged gang member said his son joined the guerrillas after police beat him up. Vladimir Savchenko said officers accused his 18-year-old son Roman of stealing from a local dacha — punching him until he confessed.

“After this he ran away from home. He disappeared for a week. The police proudly said there was no point in complaining since they had an agreement with the local prosecutor,” he claimed.

According to Savchenko, two other gang members — Andrei Sukhorada, 22, and Alexander Kovtun, or Kavtun, 20 — also suffered from illegal police activity. He said Kovtun spent a month in hospital a year and a half ago after officers broke his ribs.

“I dont know how this gang was formed. But I know that they are all young boys who have suffered at the hands of police employees,” Savchenko said.

Today one leading sociologist said the Russian Rambos were a reaction to increasingly arbitrary rule by the authorities. “We are seeing the more and more blatant manifestation of administrative impunity. In reaction to this crude demonstration of power — protests are acquiring more marginal and aggressive forms,” Lev Gudkov told Radio Svoboda, adding “They are symptoms of a very bad situation.”

Russias far east has seen growing social unrest and numerous demonstrations against federal and regional authorities. Most of the gang members, said to number between five and 20, come from desperately poor local villages.

Far-right groups, meanwhile, have praised the actions of the gang and claimed them as supporters.—Dawn/Guardian News Service