Far East: War with fish Mafia lost by the state

In scold centre of Japnese city of Sapporo, doctors fight for lives of two Russian citizens: the major-general of Federal Frontier Service, Vitaly Gamov and his wife. The condition of the patients is very serious: the 39-year-old major has a burn of 95 percent of his skin, while his wife – of over 80 percent. Yesterday, a skin-transplantation operation was made to her. The tragedy took place May 21: some unknown persons threw bottles with ignition compound to the Gamovs’ flat, as a result, the major-general and his wife got so heavy burns. The leadership of Pacific Office of Federal Frontier Service is sure of the incident being connected with the officer’s work. Two years ago, Gamov became the head of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk territorial office of the frontier troops. Within this time, the major-general became terror of all poachers and smugglers. “Gamov on himself took decisions and was hard towards poachers, – Natalia Rondaleva says, senior officer of the regional office’s press-centre. – For example, the court took one decision which was for the benefit of poachers, while Gamov returned these cases to the court, and they were revised. Therefore, Vitaly Gamov guarded the state and its interests.” Gamov was responsible for the Maritime Region, Sakhalin Island, and South Kurily Islands – the territory where Russian frontier guards traditionally fight with fish Mafia. Daily losses of the country caused by the illegal business are over 2.5 billion dollars, while this is not the limit. The local Mafia, of course, will go to anything, even to the murder of such a high-ranked officer. The war in the Far East is not a cinema, this is a real war. Though, the participants of this war are under unequal conditions: the frontier guard has old vessels and not enough fuel, while the bandits have up-to-date high-speed boots and satellite navigational aids, not saying about weapon. P.S. Five Russian frontier guard became hostages of poachers in Far East. According to colonel-general Pavel Tarasenko, chief of regional office of Russian Federal Frontier Service, Vorovsky frontier bottom stopped Rekin Russian fishing vessel, and three frontier guard and two inspectors went up aboard. According to Tarasenko, the crew of the vessel neutralized the group, weighted anchor and moved towards Japan. Tarasenko reported that Rekin was being followed by Vorovsky guarding ship. One more frontier ship was sent to intercept it. While from air, Rekin vessel was tracked by An-72 aircraft. Rekin did not reacted to attentive fire and went on the air with SOS signal, reporting it was followed by some unknown military ship. The incident took place in the area of Shantar Islands. At the moment, Rekin continues its movement towards Japanese territorial waters. Dmitry Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/05/24/41671.html