Tri-Service

Army Deserter Found Hiding In Woods After 11 Years

Russian police have discovered a man who deserted the Army 11 years ago, and has been hiding in the forest ever since.

The 30 year old man who was not named disappeared from his sentry post on the Kamchatka peninsula in 2004 a year after registering with the armed services, according to TASS news agency.

Police failed to locate the man, and so he was subsequently declared dead after family members "identified" the body in the months after he deserted.

But now, 11 years after his disappearance, the man was discovered alive and living a forest in the eastern extremity of the country.

Local residents had called the police concerned about a "suspicious inhabitant" who had settled nearby, according to the NTV channel.

‘The man told police he had built a small house from old construction materials near the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky,’ a police spokeswoman told the Tass news agency.

‘He was collecting berries and mushrooms and scrap metal, and worked at a swine farm and went fishing to earn his living.’

While he has now been detained, NTV points out that it's not yet clear if he'll face any punishment because so much time has passed since the original offence.