The fight against banditry of law enforcement agencies in the Far East in the post-war years

The article is devoted to the problem of combating banditry in the postwar years in the Far East. Being a specific region characterized by the presence of rich natural resources, in which the country was in dire need, low population and a shortage of labor resources, led to a high concentration of special agents in the region - prisoners of war, military personnel and persons held in penitentiary institutions. A special place in this list was occupied by the Japanese population repatriated from Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. It was from these categories of persons who were in the Far East that gangs were formed. In the article, the author examines the number of bandit groups, the causes and conditions of their appearance, methods of law enforcement agencies' struggle with bandits and the elimination of bandit manifestations. The author revealed that the region was characterized by a fairly high level of criminal banditry, consisting not only of criminals who escaped from the Dalstroy camps and were not caught in a timely manner, but also prisoners of war and servicemen. Besides them, Boetai detachments consisting of former Japanese servicemen and members of paramilitary formations operated on Southern Sakhalin.