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MOSCOW'S BANDIT POLICE.

REMARKABLE REVELATIONS. The Berliner Tageblatt publishes the following message from its St. Petersburg correspondent:—'-As a result of the enquiry conducted by Senator Garin, General Reinbott, formerly Chief of Police in Moscow, has been formally charged with offences which, if proved, will result in a sentence being passed upon him of at least eight years' hard labor in those Siberian mines to which he himself has sent so many thousands of people. The order for the trial was signed by the Prime Minister himself after reading Senator (.Sarin's report. This report consists of three hundred printed pages, and, from its character, is not likely to be published for many years to come. Enough of its contents, however, has been made known to throw a lurid light on the character of the Russian secret police sy.stem. Senator Garin describes the Moscow police as an organisation of privileged banditti who have for years plundered the people of 'Moscow to their hearts' desire with the cognisance of the highest officials. Their robberies were conducted quite openly, just as if the State had entrusted tlie •secre't police with this special duty. The people of Moscow knew of these things only too well, but they dared not complain, for the most guilty persons were powerfully-placed officials: in fact, some years ago the Governor-General of Moscow was the late Grand Duke Sergius. and it was under his regime that the business began. THE POLICE AS CRIMINALS. "The report covers the activity of the police during the last live years.'ln lilOll thefts increased so rapidly in Moscow that the continued possession of any article of value became almost impos-, sible, and the criminals were never discovered. An incident opened the eyes of the public to the true nature of this phenomenon. One day four valuable furs disappeared from a merchant's shop. Then came an anonymous letter advising the victim to keep the matter dark, and promising that the goods would be returned. The merchant took the letter to the police office, and wis told by the" official in charge that the affair would immediately be put right. in a few hours the stolen furs were restored to their owner, and the official at the police office was the richer by a considerable sum of money, ft was not long before all the merchants and traders of Moscow knew the proper method of recovering lost goods. The thing, in fact, became so systematic that an exact scale of charges was fixed by the iiolico for the restoration of 'stolen' property. During the revolutionary years 'theft' gave place to 'expropriation'—this latter term was at this time applied to the illicit methods in vogue of replenishing the revolutionary funds; ■—anil the Mb.scow police, taking their cue from the revolutionaries, organised <through officials lxilonging to the department 'expropriation' on a grand scale. Nothing escaped; Government monopolies, factories, banks, and private people, were subjected to 'expropriation.' and it even appeal's that the shameless lifting of eiSU.OOrt from the Moscow •Mutual Credit, which made such a stir in the world, was carried through at least with the connivance of the secret police, if not actually with their assistI nnee. THE THIEVES DISCOVERED. ''The end came when a rich landowner in the government of Riazan was robbed on his estate. One of the Riazan police traced the crime to Moscow, and to the very house in which the booty was concealed. -When he claimed the assistance of the Moscow police to effect the arrest of the criminal he met with a refusal. He persisted, however, and persuade! one official to go with him to the house. ■What was his surprise to find that the tenant of the'house was the very official who refused to consent to t'he arrest of the criminal! The other official who had accompanied him to the house brought the discovery to the notice of -his superiors, and was immediately dismissed for his pains by General Reinbott. Thereupon the dismissed official .went to St. Petersburg, with .the result that the Government ordered a Senatorial enquiry into the matter. .MURDER RESORTED TO. •'Senator Garin's report reveals not only that the lower police officials pro- j tectc.d and maintained thieves' kitchens in various quarters of the town, but that the highest police authorities took the lion's share of the spoils. Only four bouses away from the palace of tile Governor-General, the notorious Admiral Dubussof. who crushed the Moscow rising, the Moscow police established their principal headquarters for this new 'delinrtment." There .they conducted a regular school for the training of subordinates in this business, and worked out their plans for wholesale 'expropriations.' Private competition was not allowed: am- unofficial 'expropriators' were certain to be discovered and hanged. The secret, police are shown, •moreover, to have killed a number of policemen and others who tried io'penetrate into their secret. . . . All the stolen goods—sometimes consisting of the whole stock of a warehouse—were conveyed lo one Moscow firm, which ■icl-d -i= n eeivii]"-hoiise. and so shameless were the operations that, this firm kepi special books for these transactions. . ■ ■ T |lo centre of all (his nefarious activitv was General Reinbott. the Chief of Police, lo whom, in addition, the keeper* of disorderly houses in Moscow were forced, to hand over a total sum of CIO.OOO. .Resides General ißeinlKiU. forty of bis associates have also been indicted."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19090210.2.36

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 14, 10 February 1909, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
891

MOSCOW'S BANDIT POLICE. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 14, 10 February 1909, Page 4

MOSCOW'S BANDIT POLICE. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 14, 10 February 1909, Page 4

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