After stopping a passenger car for a road check on Senatorska Street in Warsaw, police found equipment that could pose a threat to Poland’s national defense infrastructure.
The three men inside the vehicle were Ukrainian citizens, aged 43, 42, and 39. Although news reports have not tied these Ukrainians to any specific state actor, it is worth noting that a number of Ukrainians have been active in sabotage in Poland, allegedly on behalf of Russian services, as of late.
It was their suspicious behavior that led the police to inspect the car, whereby they discovered items that could have been used to interfere with the country’s strategic IT systems and to break into IT and telecommunications networks, according to Do Rzeczy based on a statement from the Warsaw I District Police Headquarters cited by “Super Express.”
Sergeant Kacper Wojteczko said the items seized included a spy device detector, advanced hacking equipment, antennas, laptops, a large number of SIM cards, routers, and portable hard drives.
The men admitted they were “traveling around Europe,” had arrived in Poland a few hours earlier, and were planning to travel to Lithuania. However, they were unable to explain the purpose of the seized items. They claimed to be IT specialists, but then began to avoid answering more detailed questions, pretending they did not understand English.
The materials found were sent to the Warsaw Śródmieście-Północ District Prosecutor’s Office, which is conducting the investigation into when and why the Ukrainians came to Poland.
The court has granted the prosecutor’s request and placed the suspects in preventive custody for three months.
All three have been charged with fraud, computer fraud, and obtaining devices and computer programs adapted for committing crimes, including attempting to damage computer data of particular importance to national defense.
Meanwhile, the International Cooperation Bureau of the National Police Headquarters has submitted a request to Interpol headquarters in Lyon for red notices to be issued on two other Ukrainians.
Yevhenii Ivanov and Oleksandr Kononov are suspected of committing acts of sabotage on Polish railways, acting on behalf of foreign intelligence, specifically Russia.
European Arrest Warrants had previously been issued for them, RMF FM reported, as cited by Do Rzeczy.
An Interpol Red Notice, also known as an international wanted notice, is the highest level of international alert, notifying services in 196 member countries of the search for a person suspected of a serious crime, such as murder, drug trafficking or terrorism, in order to arrest and extradite them to the requesting country.
The prosecutor’s office has charged 39-year-old Oleksandr Kononov and 41-year-old Yevheniy Ivanov with committing acts of terrorist sabotage on behalf of the Russian Federation’s intelligence service against the Republic of Poland.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
On Nov. 15 and 16, two acts of sabotage occurred on the Warsaw-Dorohusk route. In Mika (Masovian Voivodeship, Garwolin County), an explosive device destroyed a railway track. Near the Gołąb railway station (Lublin Voivodeship, Puławy County), a train carrying 475 passengers had to suddenly brake due to the damage.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced in the Sejm (lower house of parliament) on Nov. 18 that two Ukrainians collaborating with Russian intelligence were responsible for the railway sabotage.
