Police have arrested a Frenchman near a gas pumping station in western Poland suspecting he is preparing a terrorist attack, an official from the Polish security services said on Wednesday. "Michel N., 23, is being investigated for preparing actions which can endanger human life and destroy property," Ewa Socha, the official following the matter at the public prosecutor's office in the western city of Poznan told AFP. "We had sufficient information at our disposal to be able to arrest him for three months," she told AFP by telephone. "All matters that can be linked to terrorist activities are a priority for internal security," Magda Stanczyk, spokeswoman for Poland's internal security agency said. "The agency is currently verifying all the information and circumstances of this arrest. What were the motives for his stay in Poland," she added. The suspect is of Algerian origin, according to Poland's Fakt newspaper.
| One of "those" Frenchman. |
He "was arrested Friday while he was cycling around the pumping station at Swarzedz and taking photos of the site," the newspaper said. According to another newspaper, the Rzeczpospolita, he is suspected of "having prepared the ground to blow up the pumping station". Poland, one of Washington's staunchest supporters in the Iraq war, patrols a swathe of the country south of Baghdad, heading a 6,500-strong multinational force including 2,500 Polish troops. In July, a group claiming links with Al-Qaeda threatened an attack unless Warsaw withdraws its troops from Iraq. |