In a statement published on social media on Tuesday, Jacek Dobrzyński, spokesman for the minister coordinating Poland’s intelligence services, said officers of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) had detained a student of the Catholic University of Lublin identified as Mateusz W.
He said the suspect was believed to have been preparing a terrorist attack intended to intimidate large numbers of people and to support the so-called Islamic State.
According to Dobrzyński, investigators believe the suspect had been gathering information on how to manufacture explosive materials independently and had considered joining a terrorist organisation in order to obtain operational support.
Digital storage devices and items linked to Islam were seized during the operation, he added, and a court ordered the man to be held in pre-trial detention for three months.
In a separate and more detailed statement, the Internal Security Agency said the arrest followed urgent searches carried out on 30 November in central and eastern Poland.
The agency said the suspect was under investigation on suspicion of preparing a mass killing using explosives and of acting with the aim of seriously intimidating the public and advancing the objectives of a terrorist organisation identified as Islamic State.
The ABW confirmed that data carriers and religious items were secured during the searches and said the case was being handled by its regional office in the north-western city of Szczecin under the supervision of the National Prosecutor’s Office.
It added that further intensive investigative work was under way and described the case as developing.
The authorities at the Catholic University said that the detained student, Maciej W., is a first-year law student and has been immediately suspended.
(mp)
Source: IAR/ABW/X/@JacekDobrzynski/@KUL_Lublin