German police have detained two additional suspects in connection with a September fire at a Polish Starlink station, bringing total detentions to four.
WARSAW: German police have detained a woman and a man over a fire at a Polish Starlink internet station in September, private broadcaster RMF FM reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
The woman was arrested in Berlin. It did not say where the man was apprehended por give the nationality of either.
On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Germany had detained two Turkish men suspected of setting fire to the station in central Poland, which he called an “act of hybrid warfare”.
Ukraine’s allies have accused Moscow of hybrid attacks, including drone and missile strikes against countries backing Kyiv’s efforts to repel Russia’s invasion.
According to the sources quoted by RMF FM, the woman may have acted as a driver for the two Turkish suspects and “assisted with the logistics of the sabotage operation”.
Prosecutors would assess the extent of her involvement and whether to seek her extradition, it said.
The role of the fourth suspect, a man, was “also under investigation”, it added.
The Polish police and national prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
Sabotage accusations
The German prosecutor’s press office confirmed to AFP “two Turkish nationals” had been arrested “near the train station in Nurtingen” on Monday afternoon, in response to a request from Poland.
“Operations are currently ongoing. Therefore, no further information can be provided at this time,” the prosecutor’s spokesman said.
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the two Turks faced charges of “sabotage and espionage on behalf of a foreign intelligence service”.
The station — owned by state-owned telecommunications company Exatel and used by Elon Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink — transmits internet traffic through Poland, including to Ukraine — Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said.
The fire broke out in late September. The station remained operational after the blaze.
The following day, Gawkowski told public broadcaster TVP Info: “This act of sabotage was deliberately designed to disable the station… disrupting internet access for various institutions, including the Ukrainian army.”
Poland, an EU and NATO member on the military alliance’s eastern flank, has accused Russia of “sabotage” on several occasions since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Poland has become the main hub for transporting Western military and humanitarian support to Kyiv.