Poland holds suspect in alleged assassination plot

Polish police are investigating after arresting a man suspected of plotting an attack against Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration said on Sunday.

Searches were continuing at the suspect’s home, ministry spokeswoman Karolina Galecka said, adding that “information about this man will of course then be verified by the police.”

This came after Tusk and Minister of the Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwinski said that a suspect had been detained.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends a special briefing with ministers and security officials in Warsaw on Sunday.

Photo: EPA

“The man threatening an attack has been detained,” Tusk wrote on social media, praising the police for their “swift and decisive action.”

The suspect, a man in his 60s, was arrested in the southwestern region of Lower Silesia, Kierwinski told public broadcaster TVP Info.

“The services got to him through a thorough analysis of content posted online,” he added, saying that the man’s “contacts and his activity on the Internet are being examined.”

Tarlier, the interior ministry said Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz might have been the targets of assassination attempts.

Galecka said police had been alerted by the Polish State Protection Service (SOP) following reports of a potential threat against Tusk and defence minister.

Members of the police, SOP and the Internal Security Agency on Sunday met to discuss the case.