A major new search for alleged police shooter Dezi Freeman will kick off this morning as more than 100 police and volunteers join detectives in northern Victoria.
The five-day search of Mount Buffalo National Park, near Porepunkah, will kick off today near where the fugitive was last known to be.
Freeman has been on the run since August 26 last year, when police officers Neal Thompson and Vadim De Waart-Hottart were shot dead on his property at Porepunkah.
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A third police officer was seriously wounded and continues to recover.
The officers were among a team of police executing a search warrant on Freeman's property as part of an investigation by the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.
Mount Buffalo National Park has already been the focus of police activity in the hunt for Freeman, with a five-day search undertaken in part of the park last December.
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This week's search will focus on an area adjoining that of the December search.
Canine and drone units will be deployed, along with the services of a cadaver dog team from NSW Police.
Both this week's search and last December's are based on intelligence police received relating to a gunshot heard a short time after the Porepunkah shooting on the morning of August 26.
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Police say there is no specific intelligence to suggest Freeman, a self-proclaimed "sovereign citizen", is being assisted by somebody in the local community, but it remains a possibility.
A $1 million reward has been posted for information leading to his arrest – a first in Victorian history.
"This incident, which resulted in the deaths of Neal and Vadim, continues to have a significant impact on both Victoria Police and the Porepunkah community more broadly," Detective Inspector Adam Tilley said.
"It remains our number one priority to locate Freeman and the extensive and systematic searches conducted over the past five months are testament to this."
He said police remained conviced information from the community would be crucial to the case and urged anybody with any knowledge to come forward.
"This could be anything you have heard about Freeman's actions on the day or the shooting or his current whereabouts, or anything you may have seen in the Mount Buffalo National Park area that you think is suspicious or could be connected to Freeman," he said.
"If you do have any information, then I urge you to contact police or Crime Stoppers and as always, this can be done confidentially."
Meanwhile, anybody who sees Freeman is urged not to approach him but to call Triple Zero immediately.
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