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A fugitive who allegedly murdered two officers in a small rural town in Australia’s Victoria is being helped by some members of the community, police have said. <\/p>\n
Dezi Freeman has been on the run since last Tuesday, when police arrived at his Porepunkah property to execute a search warrant, reportedly relating to a sex crimes investigation.<\/p>\n
Mr Freeman, a known conspiracy theorist, escaped into thick bushland bordering the property, with a massive manhunt for him now in its seventh day.<\/p>\n
His wife, Amalia Freeman, had earlier urged him to turn himself in and offered her condolences to the families of the officers he is alleged to have killed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Victoria Police – which has previously appealed for Mr Freeman to surrender – say there had still been no sighting of the 56-year-old. <\/p>\n
“People know the whereabouts of the person who has killed two cops,” Superintendent Brett Kahan said in an update on Monday.<\/p>\n
“You are committing an extremely serious crime by harbouring or assisting in the escape of Dezi Freeman.”<\/p>\n
He declined to specify how many people police suspected, or whether they were locals in the town of Porepunkah or nearby areas.<\/p>\n
Police had arrested and promptly released Ms Freeman and a 15-year-old when raiding another Porepunkah property on Thursday night, but have not provided any additional information.<\/p>\n
Ms Freeman said her and her children “respected the important work of Victoria Police and do not hold anti-authority views,” in a statement released by her lawyers. <\/p>\n
Heavily armed police, helicopters and armoured vehicles have now been searching the area where Mr Freeman disappeared for almost a week.<\/p>\n
The killings have revived questions over how Australian authorities deal with the threat of conspiracy theorists<\/a> – three years after a hauntingly similar ambush of police in Queensland.<\/p>\n