The incident occurred on Monday afternoon at a railway station in Puławy in the eastern Lubelskie region, police said.
Officers detained the suspect shortly after he activated the handbrakes on three cars of a freight train travelling from the northwestern city of Szczecin to Dorohusk, near the Ukrainian border, state news agency PAP reported.
The train was transporting flammable materials, including tanker cars filled with diesel fuel.
Prosecutors said the suspect faces a charge of creating a direct risk of an explosion of flammable materials that could kill or injure people and cause large-scale property damage.
The charge carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
The man partially admitted guilt, according to Marek Zych, spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in the regional capital Lublin.
Police said the suspect was detained while standing between rail cars, some of which were fuel tankers.
Officers found multiple electronic devices in his possession, including mobile phones, SIM cards and a power bank, as well as documents written in Russian.
Authorities notified the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW), the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the Central Bureau of Polish Investigation (CBŚP) following the incident.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect’s actions could have caused the train to derail.
"This was a freight train carrying fuel materials toward the Ukrainian border. The brakes were blocked in three cars, which could have resulted in a derailment. The situation was very, very serious," Kierwiński said.
A court on Wednesday ordered the man held in pre-trial detention pending further investigation.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, TVP Info, wiadomosci.wp.pl