Polish security services have detained a 19-year-old student suspected of trying to establish contacts with the Islamic State and accused of planning an attack during a Christmas market, Reuters writes.
A representative of the Polish special services, Jacek Dobrzynski, informed that the student of the Catholic University of Lublin wanted to carry out an attack using explosives and planned to join an extremist organization. Dobrzynski said at a press conference that the young man was fascinated by Islam and tried to establish contacts with a terrorist organization, while at the same time preparing an attack during a Christmas market in one of the Polish cities.
He did not provide information in which city the attack was planned to be carried out.
The man was detained in his apartment in Lublin in late November, and agents of the Internal Security Service confiscated data carriers and Islamic-related items. The prosecutor’s office has charged him with preparing to commit a terrorist attack that could cause death or serious injury to many people. The student is currently in pre-trial detention.
In mid-June, Poland charged three 19-year-old men who were collecting pyrotechnic materials to carry out terrorist attacks, including a school in northern Poland. Dobrzynski noted that vigilance was needed, given attacks in previous years before Christmas in other European countries.
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